LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
BX 7 3^.7 

Shelf .02(064 

UNITED STATES OF A3IERICA. 



SERMONS 



DELIVERED IN LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, 



JUNE—SEPTEMBER, 1893, 



J. W. McGARVEY, 

Professor of Sacred History, College of the Bible, 
Lexington, Ky. 






^y 



Louisville, Ky. 

Guide Printing & Publishing Company 

1894. 






^ 







Copyrighted 1894, by 
J. W. McGarvey. 



TO 

"THE BROADWAY CHURCH," 

LEXINGTON, KY,, 

III ^tjose pillpit riearly all of t]:|ese sernqons ^A)ere 
origirially delivered; in ^]:\ose service I have 
spent tlrie nqost useful years of rT\y life as a 
preaclr^er, arid arqorig otiose rqerqbers 
I coUr|t TTiariy of rqy ^arrqest 
friends, tlqis voliline is affec- 
tionately inscribed as a 
toKen of gratitude for 
rqany expressions 
of 

CHRISTIHN FELLOWSHIP. 



PREFACE. 



I have no partiality for volumes of sermons; for I 
have derived from them comparatively little benefit. In 
this I suppose myself to be different from many others; 
for with many good people such volumes appear to be 
favorites. They should certainly prove helpful to relig- 
ious persons who are frequently denied the privilege of 
hearing the living preacher ; and they serve as a homi- 
letical aid to such young preachers as can study them with- 
out imitating them. I think that I should not have been 
moved to the preparation of the present volume, but for 
the deep regret which I have often experienced, in com- 
mon with many thoughtful men, that some preachers 
whom we have known, and on whose lips we have hung 
almost entranced, have left behind them, when they de- 
parted this life, nothing but the faint remembrance of 
sermons which we should have been glad to read again 
and again, and which were worthy of being transmitted 
to many generations. If any of mine approach these in 
merit, or even if they possess the merit which partial 
friends have often ascribed to them, I have thought that 
they might prove useful to some after my voice shall no 
longer be heard. 

Notwithstanding the considerations just mentioned, 
these sermons would probably have died with their au- 
thor, but for the fact that I had occasion to deliver them 
where facilities for reporting them were at hand, and 
that the Guide Publishing Company thought so well of 
them before hearing them as to provide for their publi- 



cation. It has not been my custom to write sermons, 
either before or after deHvery; and only two in this 
volume were written by my own hand. With the excep- 
tion of the one on Inspiration, the one on The Jerusalem 
Church and the one of Mocking God, they all appear as 
they came from the pen of the stenographer, verbal mis- 
takes alone being corrected. If, then, the value of a 
printed sermon depends in part, as I think it does, on 
its retention of the style and manner of the speaker, these 
W'ill possess this merit. Their imperfections of style will 
be as truthful as any other part of the representation 
which they will make ; and if, on this account, they shall 
smell less of midnight oil, the reader may be compensated 
if they shall have some of the freshness of morning dew. 

I must express my thanks to the Broadway Church, 
Louisville, Ky., in whose temporary service all of these 
sermons were delivered during the summer of the year 
1893, for the many courtesies which made that summer's 
work most agreeable ; to Miss Mattie C. Huber, the sten- 
ographer, for the faithful and cheerful execution of her 
responsible task ; and to the Guide Publishing Company, 
whose promptness and accuracy in every business tran- 
saction I can not too highly commend. 

The Author. 

Lexington, Ky., December, 1893. 



CONTENTS. 



SEKMON I. 
Inspiration 1-15 

SERMON II. 
Sin and Its Punishment 16-27 

SERMON III. 
Sin and Its Punishment : Objections Considered . . 28-43 

SERMON IV. 
Kedemption in Christ 44-55 

SERMON V. 
The Kemission of Sins 56-68 

SERMON VI. 

Conditions of Forgiveness ' 69-81 

SERMON VI r. 
Faith 82-96 

SERMON VIII. 
Repentance 97-108 

SERMON IX. 
Baptism 109-121 

SERMON X. 

Cases of Conversion : The Eunuch 122-132 

SERMON XI. 
Cases of Conversion : Cornelius 133-144 

SERMON XII. 

Cases of Conversion : Lydia 145-159 

(vii) 



Vlll INDEX. 

SERMOX XIII. 

Cases of Con^^rsion : Paul 160-171 

SERMOX XIV. 

Cases of Nox-Cox^^rsion : Felix 172-186 

SERMQX XV. 

Cases of Nox-Cox^teesiox : Agrippa 187-201 

SERMOX XVI. 

God Is Not Mocked 202-214 

SERMOX XVII. 
DivixE Providence : Joseph 215-231 

SERMON XVIII. 

Divixe Providexce : Queex Esther 232-246 

SERMOX XIX. 
The Jerusalem Church 247-267 

SERMOX XX. 

Church Fixaxces 268-281 

SERMOX XXI. 
A Church Ixspected 282-296 

SERMOX XXII. 
The River Jordan . 297-314 

SERMON XXIII. 
Prayer : Its Efficacy 315-325 

SERMOX XXIV. 
Believing A Lie 326-339 



SERMON I. 



INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 



Address Delivered May 28th Before the Y. M. C. A. 

Of The Uniyer^ity of Missouri. 



There can be no Christian iVssociation that is not 
founded on the Bible. Everything that is properly styled 
Christian owes its existence to the belief in the divine 
origin and authority of that book; for although there 
were Christians and a Christian church before the com- 
pletion of the book, since it was completed all Christian 
faith depends upon it. No one is entitled to membership 
in such an association who does not espouse this belief ; 
yet in a Young Men's Christian Association of our day it 
is scarcely possible that questionings in regard to the 
origin and authority of the Bible do not frequently arise. 
You who are members of the Association which I now 
have the honor of addressing, have doubtless heard it said 
that the earlier books of the Old Testament, instead of 
being such as our fathers have taught us to believe them, 
W'Cre written by J., and E., and D., and P., and R., of 
whom this is about all that we know. They were written 
so long after the events which they record, and by men 
with sources of information so unreliable, that we can 
depend upon the truth of very little that they say. Indeed, 
it is more than hinted that they did not hesitate to per- 
petrate pious frauds — a kind of fraud never perpetrated 
by a pious man — when these were necessary to any special 
1 1 



'2 SERMON I. 

purpose which they had in view. As to the historical 
books of the New Testament, they also were written, you 
have been told, by men who lived at too late a day to be 
well informed, so that then- writings must be carefully 
sifted before we can determine what in them is true and 
what is to be referred to misinformation, to myth, and to 
legend. 

In opposition to all this you and I have been taught 
to regard the writer of every book entitled to a place in 
this sacred collection as having been controlled in the 
selection of his matter and guided in the composition of 
it by God's Holy Sphit. We have learned, in other words, 
to beheve Paul when he says: "Things which eye saw 
not, and ear heard not, and which entered not into the 
heart of man, whatsoever things God hath prepared for 
them that love him. But unto us God revealed them 
through the Spirit. * * * Which thmgs also we speak, 
not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the 
Sph'it teacheth ; combining spiritual things with spiritual.'' 
(I. Cor. ii. 9-13). 

These statements present the main issue between be- 
lief and unbelief as regards the books which we style, 
collectively, the word of God. From among the many 
lines of argumentation along which the discussion of this 
issue has taken its course, I have selected a single one for 
the subject of this address; and as the question is of vital 
importance to the existence of your Association, I am 
sure that I shall have your undivided attention while I 
attempt to discuss it. 

Again and again, almost from time immemorial, it 
has been argued that if the Spirit of God had guided the 
sacred penmen after the manner affirmed by Paul, all the 
books would have been written in one style instead of 
being marked as they are by all the varieties of style and 



INSPIRATION. 3 

diction which naturally distinguished their respective 
writers. To this it has been as often answered, that the 
infinite Spirit of God could as easily guide a number of 
writers along the course of their own respective styles and 
Avithin the limits of their own previously acquired knowl- 
edge of words, as in any other way. This seems to be a 
satisfactory answer. But still it must be conceded that 
if the Spirit of God exercised any direction over the selec- 
tion by these men of their words, their modes of expres- 
sion, or the matter of their narrations, it is but natural to 
suppose that we may find traces of the fact in character- 
istics which the writings would not otherwise possess — 
characteristics by which they may be distinguished as 
inspired writings. I believe that such characteristics can 
bo pointed out, and that, when properly considered, they 
furnish conclusive proof of the inspiration in question. I 
shall confine myself, for the sake of brevity and concen- 
tration, to the historical writings of the New Testament, 
and to their matter rather than their style. 

We invite your attention, first of all, to a peculiarity 
of the historical writers of the New Testament, which 
has often elicited wondering comment, the unexampled 
impartiality with which they set forth the sins and follies 
of friends and foes alike. There is no attempt at con- 
cealment of their own sins ; there is no toning down, no 
apology. They are described without hesitation, and 
with the same fullness of detail, as are the worst deeds 
of their enemies. The proposal of James and John to 
call down fire from heaven on an offending village, is 
as bluntly recorded as the murder of the innocents of 
Bethlehem by Herod ; the dispute among the apostles as 
to who should be greatest, is as plainly set forth as the 
dissentions among the Pharisees concerning Jesus ; and 
although, when the Gospels were written, Peter was the 



4 SERMON I. 

most prominent and the most honored man in the whole 
church, they every one describe his cowardly denial of his 
Lord with as much fullness of detail as they do the das- 
tardly betrayal by Judas. They offer no apologies for 
Peter; and they have no word of reproach for Judas. 
AVhat waiters since the world began, describing events in 
which their deepest feelings and their dearest interests 
were involved, have approached these writers in this par- 
ticular ?. If they were guided by the impartial Spirit of 
God, this accounts for it; but who shall account for it 
on any other hypothesis? 

In the second place, you can scarcely fail to have 
observed the imperturbable calmness with which they 
describe all events alike — the most wonderful as the 
most common-place, the most touching as the most in- 
different. The most astounding miracles are described 
by them with no more manifestations of excitement in 
their manner than the most trivial everyday events. 
They betray no more feeling when they speak of the 
murder of John the Baptist, than when they speak of his 
voice crying in the wilderness. They are as calm and 
self-possessed when describing the agony in the garden 
and the overwhelming scenes of Calvary, as when they 
tell of Jesus passing through the fields on the Sabbath, 
or taking His seat at Jacob's well. They use no word of 
exultation when Jesus arose from the dead, or when He 
ascended on high ; and their tones betray no trembhng 
or tearfulness amid His outcries on the cross, no tender- 
ness as His mangled form is quietly laid in the tomb. 
Yet these are the very men of whom it is said, that they 
were mourning and w^eeping when the first announce- 
ment of the resurrection broke upon their ears (Mark, 
xvi. 10). Who can account for this— for this elevation of 
these plain men above all the emotions which charac- 



INSPIRATION. O 

terize other men when writing of scenes in which their 
tenderest sympathies and dearest hopes are involved? 
The experience is superhuman. It is accounted for only 
w^hen we know that they were restrained by the Spirit of 
Him, 

" Who sees with equal eye as God of all, 
A hero perish or a sparrow fall ; 
Atoms or systems into ruin hurled, 
And now a bubble burst, and now a world." 

In the third place we invite attention to the unex- 
ampled brevity of the New Testament narratives; and 
first, to their brevity as whole books. Never since time 
began were a set of writers burdened with a theme so 
momentous in their own estimation, or so momentous in 
reality. Never were writers so oppressed, when they 
thought of brevity, by the multitude of wondrous details 
before them, and the difficulty of determining what to 
insert and what to omit, when the eternal well-being of 
a world depended on what they should write. One of 
them shows how keenly he felt this sense of oppression, 
when he exclaims with startling hyperbole: "If they 
should be written, every one, I suppose that even the 
w^orld itself would not contain the books that should be 
written" (John, xxi. 25). What, then, could have induced 
these four evangelists, thus weighted down by the abun- 
dance of their materials, overwhelmed with a sense of 
the importance of their theme, and burning with a de- 
sire to vindicate the fame of their adored Master, to 
compress their accounts into thirty -six pages each of this 
little book which I hold in my hand ? What, but some 
restraining and irresistible power, guided by superhuman 
judgment ? As to the book of Acts, the argument is the 
same in kind, and perhaps greater in force ; for this 
writer had to deal with the widespread and ever- varying 



b SERMON I. 

fortunes of the church through a period of thu'ty years, 
the most eventful and thriUingly interesting period of its 
whole history to the present day; and yet he condenses 
the story into nearly the same narrow limits. 

When, secondly, we study this brevity with respect to 
the accounts given of single incidents, the wonder remains 
the same. Out of the many examples we select a few. 
Few scenes have ever been witnessed on earth of deeper 
interest from several points of view than that of the bap- 
tism of our Lord. There was the humble yet lofty mien 
of him who came to be baptized ; the surprising demeanor 
of the great preacher as he confessed his unworthiness to 
baptize such a person; the solemn act of the baptism 
itself; the still deeper solemnity of the prayer on the 
river's bank ; the startling voice which was heard from 
heaven — the voice of Jehovah — which had not thus broken 
the silence of the skies since it thundered from the sum- 
mit of Mount Sinai; the graceful descent of the Holy 
Spirit in the form of a dove ; and the oracle, big with the 
fate of a lost world, in which God confessed his own 
beloved Son. What man with a writer's instinct could 
have stopped short of many pages in describing the scene 
so as to do it justice. But the sublime story is disposed 
of by the first Evangelist in twelve short lines, in six each 
by the second and third ; and in a mere allusion quoted 
from the lips of another person by the fourth. Again, 
the one event which, above all others, these four writers 
felt themselves obhged to set forth with overwhelming 
proof, was the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, the 
event, as they confessed, on which their own pretensions 
and their eternal hopes depended ; yet of the twelve ap- 
pearances of Jesus after his resurrection, only two are 
mentioned by the first Evangelist, only three by the sec- 
ond, only three by the third, and only four by the fourth. 



INSI-IRATION. / 

We wonder and wonder why every one did not give all the 
evidence and press it home upon the reader by many 
words of comment. In the book of Acts the same sur- 
prise confronts us. Never did a writer have a more pro- 
lific theme, or one on which he would be more delighted 
to dwell than that wild commingling of prayers and male- 
dictions, lamentations and silent despair, which filled 
every street of Jerusalem, when Saul made havoc of the 
Church, entering into every house and dragging to prison 
both men and women, until the ten thousand saints were 
driven to the four winds, and the Church in Jerusalem, 
the only Church then in existence, was dispersed and ap- 
parently destroyed: A whole volume w^ould scarcely have 
sufficed to describe all the harrowing scenes; and the 
writer to whom we owe what w^e know of it was a companion 
of the principal actor in it for many years; yet some 
irresistible constraining power shriveled his account of it 
into four short lines! Next to this event in the history of 
the young Church, with respect to those tragic elements 
in which historians love to revel, stands the death by 
martyrdom of James, the son of Zebedee. The death of 
Stephen was tragical and heartrending, but that of the 
Apostle James, about eight years later, was far more so, 
both because he was one of the original twelve on whose 
labors the future of the whole Church seemed to depend, 
and because it was a cold-blooded murder by a descend- 
ant of the tyrant who had butchered all the infants of 
Bethlehem in the vain effort to murder the Son of God. 
How you and I would love to know the exact motive of 
this murder ! How we should be strengthened to know 
something of the brave or of the forgiving words which 
James uttered with his last breath — to know, in a word, 
how the first apostle who fell a martyr to his faith met the 
grim monster ! And how it would have delighted any 



O «ERMON I. 

Christian who knew the facts to tell them to his brethren, 
and hand them down to posterity ! But this New Testa- 
ment writer was allowed only a sentence of seven words in 
the Greek for the whole story, and they are represented l>y 
only eleven in our English version. Truly, if it were said 
of Jesus, " Never man spake like this man," we must say, 
never man wrote like these men ; and the logical inference 
is that they wrote as he spoke under the restraining 
power of the Spirit of God. 

But this argument from the brevity of the narratives 
is not seen in its full force until it is considered in con- 
nection with the omissions of remarkable events by which 
it was chiefly brought about. What sketch of a great 
man's career was ever written which told only of the last 
three years of his life, if the previous part were known to 
the writer ? What biographer would consider himself at 
liberty to omit from even a brief sketch all that was known 
of the boyhood and early manhood of his hero ? Yet two 
of these three Gospel writers, though they must have 
known the whole story, have not a word to say of the fii*st 
tliirty years of the life of Jesus; and the other two fur- 
nish us within that period nothing but a few glimpses of 
his unconscious infancy and a single adventure of his 
boyhood. Uninspired writers have not been content with 
this ; for the Protevangelium, an apochryphal work of the 
second century, devotes twenty-five chapters to the period 
between the imaginary announcement of the birth of 
Mary and the slaughter of the babes of Bethlehem, while 
another, styled the Gospel of the Infancy, has fifty chap- 
ters, drawn from a very feeble imagination, on the first 
twelve years of the life of Jesus. This may help us to 
imagine what our Gospels would have been had they 
come from the pens of uninspired men of the second cen- 
tury, as some rationalists have affirmed. 



INSPIRATION. 9 

The Byiioptists omit from their narratives four intensely 
interesting visits of Jesus to Jerusalem ; while John omits 
all of the Galilean ministry, except the single miracle of 
feeding the five thousand and a conversation which grew 
out of it. This last writer, the one who was so oppressed 
hy a sense of the vastness of his material as to say that 
if all were written even the world itself would not contain 
the books, makes the most surprising omissions of them 
all. He skips in perfect silence one whole year between 
his fifth and sixth chapters, a half year between his sixth 
and seventh, and three mon hs in the midst of his tenth. 
And what is, more surprising still, though the events which 
he records cover from first to last a period of three and a 
half years, all of them up to the time of the public entry 
into Jerusalem, represent only about thirty separate 
days. Go through his Gospel, counting one by one the 
days on which its recorded events took place, and this is 
the number which you will count, although between the 
first and the last there were 1,270 days of the busy life 
which he is depicting. One day in forty supplies all that 
he makes us even partially acquainted Avith. I am told 
that in the cotton presses now used in the South men can 
place a common bale of cotton three or four feet square 
by five or six feet in length, which is already nearly as 
solid as wood, and compress it into the space of a cubic 
foot. Some such compressure of a mental kind must have 
acted upon the mind of John to bring his narrative within 
such limits. 

The same restraining power was felt by the author of 
Acts, else how could he have omitted nearly all of the 
labors of ten of the apostles, and from the career of Paul, 
which occupies his chief attention, how could he have 
omitted many of its most thrilling incidents — those for 
example which are enumerated but not described in the 



10 SEmioN I. 

eleventh and twelfth chapters of Second Corinthians? 
And what mortal man, unconstrained hy some high power, 
could have given us the account of the voyage from Caesa- 
rea to Eome, and left us without a word respecting Paul's 
trial before Nero? Compared with this triaU those before 
Felix, Festus and Agrippa appear to us of minor import- 
ance; and its wondrous significance has so excited the 
imagination of a modern writer as to bring forth, in Far- 
rar's graphic delineation of the Life of Paul, one of the 
finest specimens of word painting in tbe English language. 
Who persuaded Luke to leave it out ? 

Let us come to a different class of specifications. Who 
that was an eye witness of the splendid scene of the trans- 
figuration, in Avhich representatives from heaven, earth 
and hades came together, arrayed in divine glory, and 
conversed together for a time on the most momentous 
theme which ever till then had occupied the thoughts of 
men or angels, could have omitted it from an account of 
the career of Jesus? And who that has a heart to feel 
could have omitted the agonies of Gethsemane ? Yet John, 
who witnessed both, and whose tenderness of feehng is 
beyond all question, says nothing of either. Again, who 
that saw the calhng of Lazarus out of the tomb, with all 
the heart-breaking scenes which preceded and attended it, 
could have been persuaded by all the friends he had on 
earth to omit it from a narrative in which the divine 
power of Jesus was to be set forth; yet neither-Matthew, 
Mark nor Luke has a word to say of it. Were these men 
made of wood that they could not feel? Did they have 
hearts of stone ? Were their minds absolutely bereft of 
imagination ? Were they totally unlike all the other men 
who have taken pen in hand ? So they must have been 
if they were not overruled and constrained as to the mat- 
ter of their narratives by that mysterious l)eing whose 



INSPIRATION. 11 

thoughts are not our thoughts, nor his ways our ways. 
This alone can solve the amazing problem. 

We now advance to another source of argument, the 
angelology of these writers ; and under this head we shall 
have reference to the writers of the Old Testament as well 
as to those of the New. Among men of all nations and 
among all classes of writers, from the rudest to the most 
cultivated, there has been a fondness for depicting invisi- 
ble beings ; hence the demi-gods, fairies, genii, sylphs and 
satyrs of ancient and modern story. Nearly all of these 
are either grotesque, capricious, impure, or malicious. In 
contrast with them the angels of the whole Bible are holy, 
mighty, humble, compassionate, self-poised, and in every 
way worthy to be the messengers of Jehovah. These 
characteristics are everywhere maintained w^hen angels 
appear in the sacred narratives. "Ever unlike men, they 
are always like themselves." Nothing like them ever 
originated in the brains of men. On no other pages, 
except when copied from these, can their likeness be 
found. They are beings who, though far different from 
ourselves, are objects to us mortals of profound admira- 
tion and tender affection. Though their forms are but 
dimly outlined, we see them ; and though they are strang- 
ers to us, it is one of our most delightful thoughts that 
we shall yet dwell among them forever. They are so 
far above all the creations of human genius that human 
fancy has not permitted the divine picture to remain as 
it was, but even Christian poets and painters have per- 
sistently given them the form of woman. The Biblical 
delineation of these heavenly ])eings must be accounted 
for. It is found in the writings of shepherds, fishermen, 
herdsmen and publicans, composed in the early and dark 
ages of the world, and the writers all belonged to just 
one race of people, and that not the most imaginative. 



12 SERMON I. 

Surely here is something supernatural ; the divine inspi- 
ration of the writers can alone account for this — creation, 
I was about to say — but revelation is the word. 

We invite attention next to the air of infallibility 
which the writers of both Testaments everywhere assume. 
Though they speak on some themes which have bafHed 
the powers of all thinkers, such as the nature of God, his 
eternal purposes, his present will, angels, disembodied 
human spirits, the introduction of sin, the forgiveness and 
punishment of sin, the future of this earth, and the eter- 
nal destiny of us all ; on all subjects and on all occasions 
they speak with a confidence which knows no hesitation, 
and which admits no possibility of a mistake. Was this 
the result of stupidity and of overweening self-conscious- 
ness? The fact that they are still the teachers of the 
world on these themes forbids the supposition. Was it 
the result of a profundity of learning never equaled, or of 
native powers of insight never approached by the genius 
of other men? Their positions in society and their w^ant 
of favorable opportunities forbid this supposition, and 
our opponents themselves are quick to reject it. What 
then siiall we claim as the cause of it? Grant their 
miraculous inspiration, and all is plain. There is no 
other rational hypothesis. They were the most arrogant 
of men, next to Jesus himself, in whom the characteristic 
of which we speak was pre-eminent, if they were not 
inspired. 

Fmally, we cite the inherent power of the New Tes- 
tament writings to convince men of their o^vn divine 
origm, and to move them to holy living. That they 
should possess such power w^as the expectation of the 
writers, one of whom expressly declares his purpose in 
writing to be, that his readers might believe that Jesus 
Christ is the Son of God, and that believing, they might 



INSPIRATION. 13 

have life through His name. That there is inherent in 
them a self-evidencing power, is the testimony of a vast 
multitude who have been turned by it from unbelief to a 
triumphant faith ; and their power to move in the direction 
of holy living, is attested by the whole host of the believ- 
ers in every Christian age and country. 1 may be per- 
mitted to cite as an individual examj^le of this, one of the 
most eminent men by whom the history of your own State 
of Missouri has been adorned. All of the older men in 
the audience remember Gen. A. W. Doniphan, a conspic- 
uous officer in the Mexican war, an eminent lawyer, and 
for many years the leader of the Whig party in this State. 
Until he was about sixty years of age he was indifferent 
to all creeds, and he had never become a believer in Jesus 
Christ ; but while in attendance on the circuit court away 
from home, he dropped into a church on the Lord's day 
to hear a sermon. As he stated afterward, in telling the 
story, there was nothing in the sermon to especially in- 
terest him, but he found his attention drawn to the man- 
ifest earnestness of the speaker, an earnestness and an 
air of sincerity which proved him to be a profound be- 
liever in the Lord Jesus Christ. As he reflected on this, 
the question came into his mind, if this plain man, with 
moderate intellectual powers, has found evidence to so 
thoroughly convince him of the claims of Jesus, may not 
the same evidence be within my reach also, and may I 
not be guilty of a serious neglect in not paying attention 
to it ? The thought took possession of him, and he re- 
solved, that on returning home he would take the New 
Testament in hand and examine it carefully, to see if it 
sets forth a case in favor of Jesus of Nazareth, which he 
as a lawyer, desiring to keep up his reputation as such, 
would undertake to defend in a court of justice. He did 
so ; and he said that before he had gone through the 



14 SERMON I. 

Gospel of Matthew he was forced to exclaim, "The case 
is a good one." Within a few weeks afterward he was 
baptized, and the remnant of his life was devoted to the 
service of God. He is but one of a countless host whose 
experiences have been in effect the same. How can this 
be accoimted f or ? It is not true in the same way or to 
the same extent of any other book in the world. If the 
spirit of infinite wisdom is its responsible author, then it 
is easy to see that He who made the human soul and 
who, therefore, know^s all of its secret spriags, so guided 
the construction of this book as to adapt it to the soul 
for whose redemption it was intended, adapted it to the 
conviction and to the spkitual moulding of that soul : but 
w^ho can suggest another cause of this wondrous fact ? It 
is not in the nature of error, of superstition, or of false- 
hood, to work changes so beneficent in the characters of 
men ; these are the product of truth alone ; and herein is 
a final and conclusive evidence that the human authors 
of this sacred volume wrote as they were moved by the 
Holy Spirit. 

I think that we may now draw the conclusion that, 
while the sacred writers preserve each his own native 
literary style, so that each may be clearly distinguished 
from every other, yet there are, belonging to them all, 
certain characteristics which set them off in a class by 
themselves, distinguishing their writings from those of all 
other men. They are characteristics which can be ac- 
counted for only by the fact that these books were written 
under the guidance and restraining power of the Spirit of 
God, acting dii-ectly upon their minds, and causing them 
to write as God himself willed that his book should be 
written. If this conclusion is connect, there is a good 
foundation on which to build a Christian Association of 
young men. Not only so, but there is broad and solid 



INSPIRATION. 15 

ground on which to build the Church of the living God, 
an association of both young men and old, of every clime 
and kindred on the whole earth. I would advise the young 
men of this Association then to cling to their Bibles, and 
to so study the foundations on which the "Impregnable 
Eock of the Scripture " reposes, that no man shall be 
able to deceive them, but that they themselves may be 
teachers of others, and may do battle for the truth against 
every foe. If the ''grand old man," who now bears the 
burden of State in the empire on wl lich the sun never sets, 
has found time during the constant strain of a life of 
marvelous industry in other callings to make himself 
master of the Bible and of the evidences which support its 
claims, so that he dares to enter the field of debate with 
the ablest of its enemies, why should not some of you — 
why should not all of you — equip yourselves for upholding 
in your narrower sphere, against every antagonist whom 
you may meet, the book on which your Association de- 
pends for its existence, and on which you individually 
depend for that which you hold dearest and best ? The 
intellectual training which is imparted to you in this well 
equipped seat of learning, supplemented by the spiritual 
culture for which you find opportunities both here and 
everywhere in our favored land, should make you heroes 
in the battle for truth and right ; but remember that your 
most effective weapon will always be " the sword of the 
Spirit," which is the inspired word of God. 



SEEMON II. 

SIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 

Morning June 11, 1893 



"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth the law, for 
sin is the transgression of the law." — (I. John, iii. 4.) 

If there is a definition of sin in the Bible, we have it 
in the last clause of this verse : " Sin is the transgression 
of the law." Of course, it means the transgression of 
God's law. God's law may be transgressed by thought, 
by feeling, by words, or by actions ; for as w^e learn from 
other portions of the word of God, there are wicked 
thoughts, wicked feelings, wicked words, and wicked 
actions. This definition may not be exhaustive, but it 
is sufficient for our present purpose. 

I wonder if any of us has ever reahzed what it is to 
commit shi. I believe that I w^ould esteem above every 
other gift that could be bestowed upon me as a preacher, 
the power to adequately conceive what sin is, and to 
adequately set it before the people. A number of times 
in my ministrations, I have prepared sermons designed 
to set forth the enormity of sin; but I have every time 
felt that I made a failure. I found, I thought, two causes 
of the failure : first, a want of realization in my own soul 
of the enormity of it ; and second, inability to gather 
up such words and such figures of speech, as would, with 
anything like adequacy, set it forth before my hearers. 
The pleasures of sin have blinded our eyes to its enor- 
mity. So I have come to the conclusion, after a great 

16 



SIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 17 

deal of reflection, and a great deal of mental effort, that 
about the only correct guage we have with which to 
measure the enormity or heinousness of sin, is the 
punishment that God has decreed against it. God is 
infinite in all His attributes ; infinite in mercy, in love, in 
compassion ; and when we find the punishment that such 
a God as that was constrained, by the justice that also 
characterizes him, to enact against sin, I think we shall be 
better able to form an idea of its enormity than we can 
from any other view of the matter. This is the reason 
why, in announcing the subject of the present discourse, 
I named it, ''Sin and its Punishment." 

It may be a question in the minds of some whether 
there is any punishment of sin, either in this world or 
the world to come. But there is one thing certain, that 
this world has been freighted, from its earliest history, 
with a vast burden of woe and pain and death. The 
journey of human life is strewn with tears ; the whole 
earth on which we live has become dotted over with 
grave-yards. Death, preceded by incalculable pains of 
the body; the whole period of the life filled with inter- 
changeing smiles and tears; anguish of heart relieved 
by times of joy and happiness, have been our history. 
The word of God tells us that all this woe, pain, sin, 
sorrow and death, are the result of sin. It is a punish- 
ment that the infinite God, against whom we have 
sinned, has laid upon us in the present life. "By man, 
sin entered into the world," says the Apostle Paul, " and 
death by sin;" and all that train of evils which brings us 
down to the grave, is included. If a man deny the Bible 
doctrine on this subject of the source of all our woe, then 
call upon him to give an account of it — whence did it 
come ? The fact that the Bible ascribes it to sin is no 
mean evidence that the Bible tells the truth ; for it can 



18 SERMON II. 

not be accounted for in any other conceivable way. So 
then, all of the pain and woe and misery and death that 
the human race has experienced since the days of Adam 
to the present time, are manifestations of God's wrath 
against sin, and of His estimate of the enormity of the 
act when a man deliberately violates the law of his 
Maker; and this, alone, ought to teach us a great horror 
for sin. 

But the principal subject of the discourse is the 
punishment, if any, which is to be visited upon us on 
account of our sins in the future state. There can be 
no dispute about that which comes upon us now. Is 
there any punishment, suffering, misery, to be expe- 
rienced in the future world on account of our sms ? If 
reason were called upon to give an answer, without the 
aid of revelation, what would it be ? I know of no way 
by which we could even approach a conjectural answer, 
except by judging of the future from what we know of the 
past. Go to the old man, who is trembling on the verge 
of the grave — has lived a long, eventful life — and ask 
him, Sir, judge of the future, if you are to have a future, 
by the past, and what can you expect it to be, the same 
God ruling over all? What would his answer be, unless 
it would be this — I have no reason to hope that it will 
be any better with me than it has been. On account of 
sin, I have suffered a great deal in this world. If the 
time ever comes that I shall be entirely free from sin, it 
may be that I shall be free from suffering; but, if my 
sins continue, I have no reason to doubt that my sorrow 
will continue in proportion. That would be the verdict 
of reason. But still, that would be a conjecture, and it 
could not furnish details as to the severity of the suffering 
that may be experienced hereafter, as to the nature of it, 
or as to the duration of it. All the details would be left 



SIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 19 

in the dark. So then, if our question is to be answered 
at all, it must be answered by revelation; for no man 
without divine aid can look into the future world and 
tell us what is there. No man who ever w^ent into the 
future world has come back to reveal what he experi- 
enced there. Hence, w^e are dependent upon the revela- 
tion that God has given us of that world, for all that we 
can possibly know on this subject. To it then we turn, 
and the question we have before us, in order that it may 
be fully answ^ered, divides itself into some four or five: — 

First, Is there any punishment for the wicked after 
death? 

Second, If there is, when does it begin ? 

Third, Is there a future, final and universal judg- 
ment, such as we have heard of'? 

Fourth^ What is to follow in the way of punishment, 
if anything, after that universal judgment? 

Fifth, and last. How long, if there is such punishment 
after the judgment day, will it continue? 

I think, with these five questions answered, we will 
have the whole subject before us. 

Is there then any punishment at all after death? 
Did you notice particularly some of the words which I 
read in our opening service from the 12th of Luke, where 
Jesus is addressing His ow^n disciples, and says, "My 
friends, be not afraid of them who kill the body, but 
after that have nothing more that they can do." They 
can take your body and burn it and dismember it, but 
that does not hurt you. They have no more that they 
can do which inflicts any pain upon you. "But, I will 
forewarn you whom to fear. Fear Him, who after He 
hath killed, hath power to cast into hell." We will not 
attempt to say, as yet, what the meaning of that clause 
is — what is meant by being cast into hell. But, can 



20 SERMON II. 

there be any mistake, my dear friends, when you read 
that passage, that there is something that God may do 
to a man after he is dead, called castmg him into hell, 
which is worse than death? For the admonition is, do 
not be afraid of those who can kill you, and then can 
do nothing more: but, be afraid of Him, who after you 
are killed has powder to cast into hell. Clearly, that is 
something worse than death, and which is to come after 
death. With this text alone our first question is an- 
swered, and answered by Him whose native home was 
that eternal world — Him who knew all things, and who 
had been appointed by the Father to be the Judge of the 
living and the dead; for He Himself hath said, "Hence- 
forward, the Father judges no man, but has committed 
all judgment unto his Son." AYe are prepared then for 
the second question. 

When does the suffering mentioned by our Lord in 
these few words begin ? 

From His ow^n lips we will gather the answer. He once 
described, as you remember, the life, the death, and the 
future of two men ; one, a rich man faring sumptuously 
every day, and clothed in pm-ple and tine linen; the 
other, a beggar covered with sores, and brought and laid 
every day at the rich man's gate to receive the crumbs 
that fell from his table — no companions but the dogs that 
licked his sores. He says that the beggar died and was 
carried by angels and placed in Abraham's bosom. That 
is the death of a good man. He says that the rich man 
also died and was buried, and in hades he lifted up his 
eyes and saw Lazarus afar off in Abraham's bosom, and 
begged, "Father Abraham, send Lazarus that he may dip 
the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue ; for I 
am tormented in this flame." It began then with Jilm, 
immediately after his death — just as soon as he died. 



SIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT. '21 

in hades. Hades, you know, is the place of departed 
spirits, where the spirits of men go when they leave 
the body, and where they remain until the resurrection. 
It is not an eternal state ; it is temporary ; it remaiiis 
only till the final resurrection of all. There will be no 
hades after that, for there will be no more separation of 
the body and the soul. We learn then from this passage 
of Scripture, that the wicked, as soon as their spirits 
leave the body, enter into torment. That need not sur- 
prise us. When a wicked man, who knows his God, and 
knoAvs his Savior, and knows his Bible, but has trampled 
them under his feet, when, in the possession of his mental 
powers he comes to the verge of the grave, he is miserable — 
he can not fail to be. How full of horror and self-reproach ! 
If we had no Bible to tell us, what w^ould be our conclu- 
sion in regard to that man ? If his spirit is so racked 
with agony, and self-reproach, and misery, as he comes 
up to the moment of death, what is there to stop that 
pain and anguish and self-reproach when his soul has 
passed out of the body? That which the Savior tells is 
true, then, is that which we would naturally conclude 
must be true. But, as I said, this torment in hades, 
whatever it may be, is not eternal, for hades itself is to be 
destroyed. It is to come to an end when the soul is 
gathered out of that place and brought back into its body, 
raised from the dead. That will be the end of hades. 
This brings us then, to our third question. — 

Is there, according to the word of God, ])eyond all un- 
certainties of interpretation, and all questions about the 
meaning of words, is there such a final judgment as we 
have heard and been taught to believe ? Let me say that 
the word judgment is frequently used in the Bible, and on 
the lips of our Lord, with reference to matters that take 
place on this earth — for the decisions of the Divine mind 



22 SERMON II. 

in regard to matters that are here transpmng ; and from 
this fact, many people have imagined that this is the only 
meaning attached to the word. But the Apostle tells us 
in the 9th of Hebrews, that it is "appointed unto all men 
once to die, and after that the judgment." In addition 
then to all the judgments of God that take place while 
men are living, there is a judgment after death, appoint- 
ed to every man, which is just as universal and certain as 
death itself, if we. can beheve the plain and unmistakable 
language which I have just quoted. How long after 
death? We learn from the language of our Savior 
himself, that this final judgment is to take place after 
the resurrection from the dead. For, in familiar words, 
familiar to us all. He says, "The Queen of the South 
shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and 
shall condemn it." "The men of Nineveh shall rise 
up in the judgment with this generation, and shall con- 
demn it." The judgment then in which that gen- 
eration shall arise is one in which the Queen of the 
South will come up ; the people of Capernaum to whom 
Jesus spoke, will come up; the men of Ninevah will 
come up ; and you and I will come up ; for when they 
arise from the dead, according to the teachings of the 
Bible you and I will arise too. The same Lord has said, 
"The hour is coming when all that are in their graves 
shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and shall come 
forth, they that have done good, to the resurrection of life, 
and they that have done evil to the resurrection of con- 
demnation." In the third place, in regard to tliis judg- 
ment, we learn that it will be an universal one. "When 
the Son of Man shall come in His glory and all the 
holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne 
of His glory and all nations shall be gathered before 
Him." (John, v. 28-29 and Mat. xxv. 31). Here is a uni- 



SIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 23 

versal gathering of angels and of men; and I presume 
mider the word angels are included all the intelligent 
beings that God has created in all the worlds that occupy 
illimitable space. They are to assemble together with 
all the men that shall have been born up to the time that 
that judgment takes place. Oh ! what a gathering that 
will be ! When he comes in his glory thus, and all na- 
tions are gathered before Him, He will separate them, as 
a shepherd divides his sheep from his goats, placing the 
goats on his left hand, and the sheep on his right. 
I might quote other passages of Scripture, but brethren, 
God does not have to speak twice in order to tell the 
truth. Our Savior ought not to have to repeat anything 
twice, in order that you and I may believe what He says 
when he uses plain language. Our question is answered. 
There will be at the time of the universal resurrection of 
all the dead, both good and bad, an universal judgment, 
a final and everlasting judgment of every human being. 
The Apostle John was granted a vision of that awful 
scene. You will go to the World's Fair to see the great 
sights that will be presented there, but the vision that 
came before the eyes of John transcended it as far as the 
heavens are above the earth. He says, "I saw a great 
white throne, and Him who sat upon it, from whose 
face the heavens and earth fled away, because there was 
no room for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, 
stand before the throne, and the books were opened ; and 
the dead were judged out of the things that are written in 
the books, according to their works. The sea gave up the 
dead that were in it ; death and hades delivered up the 
dead that were in them, and they were judged, every one, 
according to his works." What a vision was that ! The 
grandest sight that shall ever have been seen by mortal 
eyes until you and I, bye-and-bye, shall see in absolute 



24 



fciERMON II. 



realty the things which John saw in a vision. It is that 
same final judgment that we have heard of since we were 
little children, and there is no doubt about its reality. 

But now then, is there any punishment for sin after 
that ? The men who died during all the long period of 
the world's history previous to that final resurrection, 
became miserable and went into misery, when they died. 
They have been brought up out of hades — soul and body 
re-united. They have been brought before the judgment 
seat, and now, w^hat is the decision of the Judge ? The 
same passage from w^hich I last quoted declares that then 
shall the Judge say to them on Plis left hand, "Depart, 
ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil 
and his angels." That is after the judgment; that is 
the punishment which is to follow the judgment. Do 
you remember how that punishment is set forth in the 
Bible? Everlasting fire. A lake that burns with fire 
and brimstone. The most excruciating torture, I believe, 
that human flesh can experience, is to be burned with 
fire, and that represents this suffering after the judg- 
ment. 

Again, turning the vision, and taking another view 
of this eternal punishment, the Saviour says: "They shall 
be cast into outer darkness, where there is weeping and 
gnashing of teeth." By outer darkness, I presume He 
means darkness outside of all light, far beyond the reach 
of the rays of the sun, the moon, or the stars ; far beyond 
the reach of that light that shall shine in the city of 
the living God, going out from the throne of God in the 
eternal world. What is more horrible than to be forever 
in the dark, to have torment like that of fire burning you, 
and to hear no sound except the gnashing of teeth? Men 
gnash their teeth only w^hen they are enraged against 
themselves, when they are tormented with anguish and 



SIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 25 

self-reproach. Such, then, is the answer to our fourth 
question. 

Now, finally, how long will that punishment which 
comes after the judgment, and which is described in 
these horrid terms, endure? Christ stamps the word 
" eternal " upon it. He says, these shall go into eternal 
life ; these into eternal punishment ; and thus He meas- 
ures the life of the one by the same word which measures 
the punishment of the other, the word eternal. There 
has been a great deal of disputation about the meaning 
of that word, because it is often applied by a figure of 
speech to things that do not exist forever ; but in this 
passage there is no^ ambiguity. As sure as the life into 
which the saints are called is unending, eternal in the 
sense of never coming to an end, so sure is the punish- 
ment unending; for they are measured by the same 
word, eternal life, eternal punishment. I was once 
engaged in a discussion with a man who denied the 
reality of eternal punishment, and his proposiiion in 
the debate was this, that all men shall finally be eter- 
nally holy and happy. Or, rather, leaving out the word 
eternal, all men shall finally be holy and happy. I asked 
him in the beginning of that discussion to tell us how 
long we would remain holy and happy, if we became 
so — whether it would be two hours, or two years, or 
ten years, or just a few minutes — how long would it 
last; and he did not answer. I called on him again, 
and again, and again, every time he arose to speak, 
to tell us how long we could be holy and happy when 
we once became so — to give us some idea about it, 
some hope that it would last at least a little while. Not 
a word could I get from him on the subject. And 
the reason why he would not answer, as everybody 
saw, was that the very same word describes the life 



26 ser:\i()n ii. 

that describes the punishment, and he would have 
to give up the position that he held. The word 
eternal sometimes is defined as meaning "age lasting.'' 
And, as applied to this life, that would mean lasting as 
long as the age of a man from his birth to his death. 
Suppose that you understand it here to mean, that they 
shall go away into age-lasting punishment. How long 
would that be? How long, my dear friends, is an age 
after that time has come when no more human beings 
will ever be born, and no more will ever die— when all 
that exists, will exist world without end ? How long is an 
age in that world, and w^hat endurance is an age-lasting 
endurance ? It certainly is endless. So, in whatever way 
you may look at the question, the punishment of the 
wicked after the day of judgment will endure as long as 
the life and blessedness of the righteous ; and if we can 
believe the word of God, there is to be no end to either. 
Are you horrified at that thought ? I think you certainly 
must be. WeU, if you are, then how should you feel 
towards the sin which compels a God of love and mercy 
and infinite compassion to inflict such a punishment as 
that upon the sinner ? What must sin be in the sight of 
the only being in this universe w^ho is capable of appre- 
ciating it at its real enormity ? And if sin be the horrible, 
the detestable thing that extorts from an infinite, mer- 
ciful and gracious God such punishment as that, Oh ! 
why should you and 1 be guilty of it? Why should 
mortal man ever gain his own consent to commit one 
single sin ? And how amazing it is that men and women, 
who know of this, can consent to live in sin from day to 
day ! Knowing that they have incurred this awful 
penalty ; that if they were to die to-day, this would be 
their unending fate; how can they fail to reproach 
themselves for being sinners, and to fly away from it to 



SIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 



27 



the only means of escape found in Christ Jesus our 
Lord? 

Is there any one here this morning who has given his 
life thus far to this horrible crime against his own nature 
and against his God ; who has been treasuring up for 
himself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the 
righteous judgment of God ? Oh ! let me beg you to 
turn away from sin. Thanks be to His blessed .name, 
however great the sins we have committed, however 
numerous they are, and however just the awful sentence 
that has been passed against us, there is a way of 
escape. There is peace in the blood of the Lamb. There 
is provided in divine mercy a way by which your souls 
can be cleansed from guilt, and you can escape eternal 
punishment. While we sing, I beg every one in the 
audience who has never done so, to come to Christ and 
be saved. 



SERMON III. 



SIX AND ITS PUNISHMENT : OBJECTIONS- 
CONSIDERED. 



Evening June 1 1, 1893. 

I will read three verses from the 5th Chapter of the 
First Epistle to the Thessalonians : — 

"But of the times and of the seasons, brethren, ye 
have no need that I write unto you." The apostle had 
been speaking of the second coming of the Lord and the res- 
urrection of all the dead. "For yourselves know perfectly 
that the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night." 
I think this is a quotation of the Savior's own words on 
the subject, and that tliis is the reason the brethren all 
knew it. "For when they shall srj, peace and safety; 
then sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall 
not escape. " The prophets rebuked Israel of old for cry- 
ing out peace, peace, when there was no peace; and one 
of the prophets declared, There is no peace to the wicked, 
saith my God. There is no doctrine of the Bible, having 
any conspicuity, that has not excited objections among 
men, and I presume there is no teaching of the Good 
Book which has called forth as many, and as vehement 
objections, as that which I endeavored to set before you 
in the morning discourse, the teaching concerning the 
future punishment of sin. 

As I announced this morning, I propose to-night to 
discuss some of the leading objections which are common- 
ly urged against that teaching. Many of these objections 

28 



SIN AND ITS rUNISH]MENT. 29 

are based upon passages of scripture : I will not enter 
into a discussion of these. I believe that I have ex- 
amined every one of them after reading carefully the 
books written ])y men who deny the Bible teaching 
concerning future punishment, and I have not found a 
single one that did not carry with it a perversion of the 
text; and I will dispose of all that class of objections to- 
night, so far as you and I are concerned, by telling you, 
whenever you hear a passage of scripture quoted in dis- 
proof of the future and eternal punishment of the wicked, 
if you will turn to the passage and read a few verses before 
it, and a few after it, you will invariably find that the mean- 
ing of that passage has been mis-stated or mis-applied by 
the objector. Now you will do yourselves a service, and 
the truth a service, if you will follow that rule the rest of 
your life, when you hear discussions on this subject. 

I prefer to-night to occupy our attention with objec- 
tions which appear to have great force in them, and Avhich 
are not so easily answered as those that are based upon 
"scrapping" the w^ord of God ; and first of all, it is claimed 
that such a doctrine as the future and everlasting punish- 
ment of sin is inconsistent with the goodness of God. 
That God is a good father, by which we mean that He is 
benevolent and kind and tender heart«'d towards all of 
his creatures, is a proposition not to be denied, but to be 
insisted upon and emphasized with all the powers that we 
can bring to bear for the purpose of impressing it upon 
the souls and the hearts of ungodly men. And if the 
teaching concerning the future punishment of the wicked 
which I set forth this morning, is God's teashing, it 
only shows that such is the unspeakable enormity of 
sin that it extorts from the most benevolent Father in 
this universe, precisely that kind of suffering and punish- 
ment; and it ought to heighten our conceptions of the 



30 SERMON III. 

beniousness of sin, it seems to me, above everjibing 
else tbat we know about it. 

But, is it inconsistent witb tbe goodness of God to 
tbus punisb sin? I am very free to confess tbat if I bad, 
as God bas, almigbty power and almigbty -wisdom, I 
can not for tbe bfe of me see tbat I would allow any 
buman being to be plunged into a lake tbat burns witb 
fire and brimstone, or to be cast into outer darkness wbere 
tbere is weeping and gnasbing of teetb, even for one day 
or one bour. And, furtbermore, I am free to confess tbat 
if I bad tbe power to prevent it, I would not allow one 
single buman being to ever sbed a tear, to ever feel a 
pang of tbe body or tbe beart. I would never allow any 
more widows in tbis world, nor any more orpban cbil- 
dren. I would not allow pestilence to walk abroad, nor 
deatb to waste. I would bave no grave-yards in tbis world. 
It seems to me tbat I could not get my consent, witb tbe 
view tbat I bave and tbe feeling tbat I bave of wbat is 
good and benevolent and kind, to allow any suffering at 
all among my fellowmen. 

But wbat does all tbat prove in regard to God ? It 
only proves tbat I would act differently from tbe way tbat 
God acts. It does not prove tbat God acts improperly or 
inconsistently. It only proves beyond all question of 
doubt tbat a buman being invested witb infinite power 
and wisdom, would jianage tbis world very differently 
from tbe way tbat God manages it ; for we know, tbe 
wbole world knows, tbat if tbere is a benevolent, kind, 
and merciful God in Heaven, be has aUowed all tbe 
suffering and pain and anguisb tbat bas made tbis world 
almost a cbarnel-bouse fi*om tbe beginning to tbe present 
day, to go rigbt on before bis face. And all tbis, as was 
sliown you tbis morning, is in consequence of man's sin 
against Him. He bas done tbat. '*He tbat is unjust in 



SIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 31 

that which is least," says tlie Saviour, "is unjust in that 
which is much ;" and if the Almighty has had sufficient 
reasons to reconcile it with His infinite goodness and love, 
to allow the amount of suffering which has already taken 
place in the history of our race, to go on, who can say, 
who dares to say, that He may not be able to reconcile 
with His goodness and mercy and benevolence, that kind 
of pain and suffering on account of sin as long as the 
universe exists ? I think we can very safely say, then, 
that there is nothing in that line of argumentation — 
that the facts in the case reverse the argument, rather 
than establish it. 

In the next place, it has been very vehemently argued 
and insisted upon, that such punishment for sin would 
be unjust on the part of God, because the penalty would 
be far beyond the demerits of the sin for which it was 
inflicted. To inflict punishment such as is described in 
the Bible upon a human being, and that continuing with- 
out end, for the sins which he committed during the brief 
stay which he experienced here on earth, is out of all 
proportion, when viewed as a matter of justice. Justice 
demands that the penalty shall be proportioned to the 
crime. Well it does look that way ; it undoubtedly does. 
No father would inflict that kind of punishment upon 
his son for any conceivable offense against the father, it 
is argued, and I believe that is true. I would hate to see 
the man that would. He would not be my friend. It 
would show not only a want of justice, but an audacious 
rebellion against all sense of the goodness and mercy and 
love, of which we have already spoken. But now then, 
whilst it does appear that way ; and if I were the Judge 
I would not give that sentence ; if I had the trial of the 
matter, I am sure that I would not allow that sentence to 
be passed ; yet, who am I ? Well, I am a sinner ; and 



32 



SER:\roN in. 



^vho is to be the judge of the punishment that a sinner 
ought to get ? The sinner himself ? We do not argue 
that way in the affairs of the world, in our courts of jus- 
tice, or in our family discipline. The little rebel who has 
risen up against his father's will stubbornly — is he ever 
set up to decide what punishment he deserves'? The 
men who violate your laws in the city here every day, 
and take life in it, do you think they would be the proper 
men to put on your juries to try the crimes that they 
themselves have committed ? Do you think it would be 
wise to select the law breakers as your law makers ? You 
sometimes do that. You sometimes appoint men to 
make your laws in the city and in the State who are 
law-breakers continually, but you did not intend to do 
it, and you feel ashamed of yourselves because you 
have allowed them to get into those positions. What 
community that ever lived would, if a man were to be 
tried for murder, have a murderer on the bench, a jury 
made up of murderers, and the witnesses for the defense all 
murderers ? Why, you know our laws do not allow a man 
that has ever killed another to sit on the jury m a mm-- 
der trial. Our law-makers know better than that. And 
wiio, if he wished adequate laws for the punishment of 
gambling, would elect gamblers to the Legislature to pass 
the laws; or, if he were aiming to suppress theft and 
murder, would select a lot of thieves and murderers to 
make the laws and fix the penalties ? Why, we are in- 
stinctively shocked at the idea of appointing men that 
are guilty of any particular sin or crime, either to make 
or to execute the laws in reference to it ; and why '? Be- 
cause they necessarily have a strong bias in favor of the 
criminals, being themselves of the number. Well now, 
if that is true, who will select a sinner to decide the pun- 
ishment that is just toward a sinner? Who will say that 



SIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 33 

the greatest minds among men, I care not how wise they 
may be in all other things, may pass judgment upon 
what Almighty God says shall be done with the sinner ? 

" No rogue e'er felt the halter draw 
With good opinion of the law." 

And no rogue ever lived that would allow the halter to 
draw on rogues. Well, in honesty, my dear friends, as 
long as I am conscious that I am a sinner myself, I feel 
that honesty and candor and justice demand that I shall 
keep my mouth shut in regard to the demerit of sin and 
let my God settle that question for me. If it goes against 
me, I can not help it. He alone is the Judge. In order 
to have a fair and equitable decision as to what sin 
deserves, you must have it from some being who is totally 
separated from sin — who can stand off and look at it, 
and see it as it is. It may be that angels can do that ; 
I do not know ; but one thing is certain, God can, and 
He is the only being in this universe of whom we feel 
entirely certain that He can pass a dispassionate judg- 
ment upon the demerit of sin— the only being, therefore, 
competent to decide what shall be done with the impeni- 
tent sinner. We are, I think, bound as candid, as fair- 
minded and honest men, to say on this subject, "Lord, 
speak. Thy servant heareth." 

In the next place, it is claimed that such a punish- 
ment of sin is inconsistent with the ivisdom of Almighty 
God, because it would involve the whole human creation 
that he has established in this world, in an awful failure. 
Why, it is claimed that if God had foreknown, before He 
made this race of ours, that such was going to be the 
result in regard to a very large portion of them, that 
surely He would have been too wise to have made 
the first human pair. And the argument goes on 
^irther to say, that if this doctrine of final punishment is 



34 SEEMOX III. 

true, it will involve so vast a -majority of the Imman race 
in eternal misery and wretchedness, that the saved 
will he hut a very small portion of the whole, and thus 
the creation of man will prove to he a stupendous 
failure on the part of a God whom we supposed to he 
infinitely wise. Well that looks as if it might he so. All 
of these reasonings are extremely plausible ; hut let us 
look a little while at the facts in the case — some facts 
that are overlooked hy the parties who argue thus. 

Is it true that according to the teachings of the Bible, 
in their widest range, a vast majority of the human race 
are *to be involved in everlasting punishment ? I do not 
think it is. We are told by those who study the statistics 
of human life, that at least one-third of all the children 
that are born into this world die before they come 
to years of accountability. What becomes of them? 
They have committed no personal transgression, and 
whatever may be true with respect to hereditary deprav- 
ity, certainly there is not one word said m the Bible 
about the eternal punishment of those who have not 
committed personal sins. Then, all that third that have 
been born up to the present time, are saved, and such 
will continue to be saved until the end of the world. 

In the second place, although in all the ages past, 
close up to the time of Adam himself, a majority of the 
human race have lived in sin and died in sin, and, 
according to the teachings of Christ, can not go where 
He is, jet there has been a very large number redeemed 
by the blood of our Lord — a host so numerous that no 
man can count them. These are to be added to the 
one-third who die before personal transgressions have 
been committed. 

In the next place, if we believe the prophecies con- 
tained in the Old Testament and the New, there is 



SIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 35 

coming a time in the history of men, when all the king- 
doms of this earth shall be the kingdoms of God, and 
his Christ; when, if the world universally, to the last 
man and woman in it, will not be Christian, it will cer- 
tainly approach that state of things ; and when that 
time comes, if the world moves on increasing in popu- 
lation as it is increasing now, the number of living 
human beings on the earth will be manifold more than 
it ever has been in these preceding wicked ages, and it 
would require but a very few generations of the teeming 
population which will then fill the whole earth with the 
praises of God, to out-number all that have lived and 
died before. I do not believe God is going to allow this 
world to go on forever in the hands of the devil. And 
who can tell ; who can tell, but what, of our fallen and 
unhappy race the number of those redeemed and saved 
and brought home into everlasting life, as the result of 
the working of that simple Gospel which we believe, shall 
be so vast that the number of the lost, great as it is, shall 
be insignificant in comparison ? 

Now then, what shall we say of the wisdom of God in 
this matter? Is it still insisted that an infinitely wise 
God would not allow the creation and history of a race 
that would involve the everlasting woe and despair of 
any? The answer is, that God has made us. He has 
taken the responsibility to do it, and the presumption is 
that in foreseeing the final result He saw that, notwith- 
standing the fact that some would be forever lost and 
doomed to eternal woe, the good accomplished for 
the race, and for other races in His universe, would 
infinitely surmount and overbalance the evil; and if 
this be true, it is a ground on which God might 
wisely and justly proceed as He did. I believe that 
God has good and infinitely wise reasons for every- 



36 SERMON III. 

thing that He does, and I heheve the day is coming when 
you and I will have mformation enough, will have mental 
capacity enough, to see that wisdom. I think we are yet 
like little children; and where is the littlt four-year-old 
boy or girl who is able to appreciate the wisdom of many 
things that the father does, or the justice of them? They 
will bye-and-bye ; bj^e-and-bye they will thank you for 
that which makes them w^eep now. They w^ill see youi* 
wisdom and goodness to them in that which makes them 
now rebel against you ; and when they come to be fathers 
and mothers, they will practice the same thing which 
they once thought was very unwise and very unkind. We 
are all but little children compared with God. Ah ! 
my friends, the difference between the capacity to 
understand what is right and wise and just, of a four- 
year-old child, and that of his cultivated father and 
mother, is insignificant compared with the difference 
between the ability of the wisest man that ever lived on 
this earth, to understand w^hat is wise and just and good 
in the universal Euler of men and angels, and that of 
God himself. 

But then, there is still another objection to this 
Scripture doctrine, which I beheve has more weight with 
the people; strikes with greater force every mhid that 
hears it; and weighs more hea\ily upon every heart, 
than all of these others combined ; and that is this : A 
man says, "If I should be so fortunate as to get to 
heaven, and know that my wife or my children are 
weltering in such a hell as the Bible describes, heaven 
would be a hell to me." I heard a man once say in a 
discussion I held wdth him, "I would have to be turned 
into a fiend before I could dwell in heaven and be happy, 
while my friends and my family were in hell ;" and the 
man seemed to feel what he said, and the audience, when 



SIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 37 

he said it, seemed to sympathize with him — it thrilled 
that audience. Have you never felt the same feeling, 
and thought the same thought ? Well, I answered the 
gentleman about thus: The time was, that the Lord 
Jesus, the Son of the living God, was here on earth, a 
man like us, with all the human sympathies and tender 
feelings that belonged to the tenderest of human hearts ; 
and while He was here, He stood with the weeping women 
who had come out to comfort Mary and Martha, and 
Mary fell at His feet and said, "Oh, Master, if thou 
hadst been here, my brother had not died." Jesus 
groaned within himself, and wept. Those were tears 
of sympathy. He was not weeping because Lazarus 
was dead, for He knew he was soon to arise from 
the dead. He had stayed away two days to let him die. 
It was all plain in His mind. The only way you can 
account for his tears, and the heaving of His breast, and 
the deep groans within Him, is by pure sympathy. He 
wept because they were so distressed; and moved by 
that, He went to the grave, and said, " Lazarus, come 
forth ; " and he stood alive again. Those tears were all 
dried up. That is the way He felt, and when He stood 
on the Mount of Olives the last time He w^as approaching 
the City of the Great King, and looked down upon it, as it 
spread out like a map or a book in your hand before him ; 
we are told that he wept again. And why? He says, "If 
thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the 
things tvhich belong unto thy peace ! but now they are 
hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, 
that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and 
compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and 
shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children 
within thee ; and they shall not leave in thee one stone 
upon another : because thou knewest not the time of thy 



38 SERMON III. 

visitation." He wept over their misery, and wretchedness, 
and ruin, though they were yet thirty or forty years off. 
But Christ died, as we have to die. He went down into the 
ground, and arose again, and w^ent up to Heaven; and 
now, every day He looks down upon thousands of 
Marys and Marthas weeping at their brothers' tombs; 
He looks down every day upon myriads of widows and 
orphans with their hearts crushed ; and upon wretch- 
edness, w^oe and pain, such that if you or I were placed 
where we could see it all at once, I do not believe we 
could live. But Jesus does not groan up in Heaven. 
Jesus does not shed any tears up there. Has He turned 
into a fiend since He left this world? To ask that 
question, is to answer it. We may not be able to explain 
how it is that this tender, compassionate, loving, w^eeping 
friend can now sit on the throne of God in Heaven and 
look do^vn with infinite complacency upon that which 
once racked His soul with pain, and filled His eyes with 
tears, but that change has gone over Him, unquestion- 
ably it has, and if you and I follow Him, obedient to His 
will, and die and are buried, and are raised again, and 
taken up there to His own right hand, as He assures us 
we shall be, will He not enable us to look upon the same 
class of events wdtli the same infinite composure and 
peace of mind? These men and this reasoning that I 
speak of, are to be answered just as Christ answered the 
Sadducees when they presented to Him the case of a 
woman who had been married to seven different men— 
legally married to them ; and these seven men, brothers 
in the flesh. The Sadducees thought this a demon- 
stration that there could not be a resurrection from the 
dead and a future state ; and after stating the case, they 
said, "i\Iaster, whose mfe shall she be of the seven?" 
If there shall be a resurrection of the dead, will there 



SIN AND ITS PFNISH!\rENT. 39 

not inevitably be cases of strife and conflict between 
brothers in the flesh ? For how can men endure to share 
the affection of one woman between seven? It is im- 
possible here on earth; they thought it would be 
impossible in heaven. Do you know what Jesus said to 
them? " Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures." Be- 
cause the Scriptures teach the doctrine of a resurrection, 
that ought to be enough for you; and ye err, "not 
knowing the power of God ; " for " in the resurrection 
they neither marry nor are given in marriage." All 
of those affections that grow out of the married state here 
on earth, will be gone ; and how strange that is ! The 
holiest and tenderest ties that bind human beings to- 
gether are those between a true husband and a true wife. 
While we live here on earth these family ties are abso- 
lutely necessary to our welfare. When we go up there, 
they will be of no use to us, and hence they are gone. 
Just so, while I am living here on earth, the thought 
that one of my children may go to hell ought to make 
me pray morning, noon and night, and work and talk 
with them, and get them to come to Christ and to live 
for Christ and be saved ; that is the reason that this 
feeling is in me. Have I a wife who is not a Christian ? 
The fear of her being involved in the fate of the wicked 
ought to make me wretched every day until she comes 
to be saved ; and if a woman has a husband who is 
living in sin, and exposed to the fate depicted in the 
Bible for those who die in sin, she ought not to let her 
head rest upon her pillow a single night in perfect ease, 
until that husband's soul is saved. But when it is all 
over, when the judgment has been passed through, when 
every human being's fate is settled forever, and these 
feelings can do no more good, then, like the other things 
just mentioned, they will pass away, and we will be like 
the angels. 



40 SERMON III. 

Angels are hovering around us. Do not think of that 
now as a nursery story. Angels are hovering over us. 
The Apostle says they are all sent forth to be ministering 
spirits to them that shall be the heirs of salvation. We 
do not hear their wings or see their forms, but they are 
here, and the other night when you were so unhappy and 
miserable, do you suppose that the angels who guarded 
your bed wept for you ? We are told that they are happy 
beings. They are sympathetic beings, full' of tenderest 
care and regard for all of us, and when they are started 
out on missions of mercy or love, they come on glad 
wings to minister to our wants; but there is something 
about those angels that keeps them happy notwithstand- 
ing the miseries of those for whom they are ministering. 
Oh ! my brethren, Heaven has a balm for every wound ; 
for every pain ; for every sorrow. It cures every ill to 
which human hearts can be exposed, and by some 
strange power that the Almighty alone can exercise, or 
has wisdom to devise, your souls shall be free from care. 
In reality, this that I have just told you is a great deal 
the most incredible thing in the Bible. You come to me 
when I am getting old, and I have never — I can't recollect 
the clay or the night of all my past life when I have not 
had some pain of the body, or some uneasiness, or uncer- 
tainty of the soul, some unpleasant remembrance and 
some timidity of apprehension — you come to me, when I 
am about finishing up such a life as that, and say, Old 
man, you Avill leave this world in a few days, and then 
you will go away to a place where you will never have 
the slightest unpleasant remembrance of anything that 
ever took place, and you will not forget anything either. 
Even your sins and your shameful deeds will not cause 
the slightest disturbance of your perfect peace of mind 
up there. Why, old man, you will never shed another 



SIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 41 

tear, nor feel like it. You will never experience in all 
your frame the slightest uneasiness, much less pain ; and 
you will not think of anything, future, past or present, 
that will cause the slightest fear." You tell me that? If 
ten thousand men were to tell it to me, I could not be- 
lieve it. Why, really, when I try to imagine myself in 
that condition I can not do it. It is beyond the utmost 
reach of my imagination ; and why do I believe it ? There 
is only one reason on earth why I can believe it, and 
ought to believe it, and that is, because God says it ; that 
is all. It would be incredible, otherwise. 

And why ought, why does "h^nybody believe that part 
of the Bible '? You do not have to argue with men and 
persuade and convince them by long continued effort, to 
make them believe that part of it. Why ? Oh ! that is 
an easy thing to believe. You can very easily believe 
God with respect to that which gratifies you ; with respect 
to peaceful rest and joy and blessedness, in this world, or 
the world to come. But now, when God says that other 
about the fate of the wicked, why don't we believe that? 
Bob Ingersoll said in one of his lectures that the most 
infamous passage in the whole Bible is that in the 16th 
of Mark, which says, "He that belie veth not, shall be 
damned f and he says that Jesus of Nazarath, that good 
man, never could have said such a thing, although it did 
come from his lips after he had risen from the dead. And 
why does Bob think it such an infamous thing ? Because he 
knows he is lost if that is true. And the reason it is hard 
for us to believe about the fate of the wicked in the eternal 
world, is because we are wicked ; our friends are wicked, 
and we are wicked, and that is the only reason. But, 
brethren, it is time for us to make up our minds to take 
things as they are — and to take the Almighty God accord- 
ing to his word, and to deal with Him like honest men — 



42 SERMON III. 

to deal with Hiin as creatures ought to deal with their 
Maker. We ought to say, "Speak, Lord, Thy servant 
heareth." As I said this morning, if I had the power 
to make men realize what sin is, there would not he many 
sinners left after I had preached to them a few times. 
Every one of them would quit it. But lean not do that. 
As I said, I can not realize, as I feel I ought to, the 
enormity of sin myself; and of course I can not 
make others feel it. If we could only realize what it is to 
sin against God, we would never sin another time. Meas- 
m-e it hy the solemn facts set forth this morning, that 
when a man dies in his sins, he immediately goes into 
torment ; that when he rises from the dead he will be sent 
into torment beyond the judgment, which is excruciating 
beyond all imagination, and is to endure it world without 
sin, and try to estimate it that way yourself. 

And now, is there any sinner here to-night ? Yes, the 
house is full of them. I pray you in God's name, and for 
the sake of your own souls, quit those sins, whether great 
or small. Humble yourselves before the feet of God 
every night, and plead with Him so that your sins may 
be forgiven. Through the blood of the everlasting cove- 
nant, of which I shall speak hereafter as a remedy for our 
sins, you know they can be forgiven ; let your last breath 
on this earth be a prayer to forgive your last sin, and go 
into His presence with none charged against you. 

Is there any one here to-night who is not a Christian, 
who has lived in sin up to this hour, and whose every 
single sin, great and small, is still before the eyes of God 
in the book that He keeps?Oh! I beg you to fly away 
from those sins now ; to curse and stamp them under 
your feet, and hate them, and love the Lord who pro- 
poses now, after all that has been done, to forgive all, if 
you will come to Him in Jesus' name. You know the way. 



SIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 43 

I beg you, for the sake of your own soul ; for the sake 
of the eternity of which we have spoken, to come and 
confess Christ now, that you may he among the redeem- 
ed, the blessed, and the happy, in the Great Day. 



SERMON IV. 



REDEMPTION IN CHRIST. 



Morning, June 18, 1893. 



" In whom we have redemption through His blood, the 
forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace; 
wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and 
prudence."— (Eph. i. 7, 8). 

I amioiinced, last Lord's day, that in continuation 
of the connected series of discourses, my subject this 
morning would be Redemption from Sin, in Christ Jesus. 

As sins are acts performed in the past, they can not 
be undone. A man may as well attempt to snatch the 
sun out of the sky, as to undo a single act, good or bad, 
that he has ever done. And, inasmuch as suffering is 
the inevitable consequence of sin, it is a most serious 
question how it is possible for men ever to escape the 
penalty due to their sins. I presume that tliis is the 
most serious problem ever considered by the minds of 
created beings, and perhaps by the mind of God, if God 
stops to consider any question. 

Men commit crimes against human law, and escape 
the punishment by outrunning the sheriff, by bribing the 
jury, by breaking jail; by a great variety of corrupt 
methods, which they employ. But there is no similar 
way of escaping the penalties that are assessed against 
our sins by God. We can not run away from Him. A 
part of that penalty is within our souls, and we can not 
run away from ourselves. We can not deceive anybody 

44 



REDEMPTION IN CHRIST. 45 

in this matter, because the eye of Him against whom we 
have simied searches us tlu'ough and through* Death is 
a very swift messenger when he starts after us, and w^hen 
God calls on the Great Day we shall all appear before 
Him in judgment. How then, can we escape that eternal 
penalty for our sins, which was the subject of the two dis- 
courses last Lord's day. 

Some men give very flippant and shallow answers to 
these questions. Why, they say, God educates us out of 
sin ; brings to bear moralizing and elevating influences 
upon us through the Gospel, by which we are educated 
into a better and higher life, and learn to live without 
sin. There is no doubt that the Gospel exercises a 
training and educatiog and elevating influence upon all 
who are subject to it. But, suppose it were true that it 
educates a man entirely out of his sins, so that he lives 
the rest of his life pure; what has become of those 
sins ? They are there yet, written against him. What 
has become of the stains of guilt within his soul, caused 
by those sins? They are there. And what has become 
of the penalty that God has pronounced against sin? 
Yonder it is, still waiting for us. If a man has been a 
thief through ten or fifteen years of his life, and under 
good influence is educated out of stealing, when the 
grand jury gets evidence of some of those thefts, will 
they spare him because he has quit stealing ? If a man 
has murdered two or three men, ten or fifteen years ago, 
but has now quit killing people, when the evidence of 
those murders come to light, will the laws, of the land 
allow him to escape the penalty because he has not 
killed anybody recently? To ask these questions is to 
answer them, and to answer them in the affirmative 
would be a shock to the moral sensibilities of every 
human being. Well, how then must it be, in the infinite, 



46 SERMON IV. 

just, and rigliteous judgment of God? If a man is edu- 
cated out of liis sins, they are there still written against 
him, and there is the eternal penalty still awaiting hiin. 

Other men answer this question flippantly, by saying, 
Well, God can forgive our sins unconditionally, just as 
a father forgives his children; just as the father of the 
prodigal son, when he saw the boy coming home, ran out 
to meet him, and did not want even to hear the speech 
he had to make, in which he confessed himself unfit to 
be called a son, and wanted to be a hired servant. He 
forgave him at once ; and why can not God do the same 
without any conditions at all? A man asked me that 
once; and I responded, "Yes, the prodigal son's father 
did forgive him, but it created a disturbance and a 
strife in his own family. His own elder son could not 
see that it was right. He blamed his father for it to his 
face. That older son acted an ugly part, but who can 
say that he was censurable for thinking that the father 
had been too lenient to the boy who had wasted his 
substance in riotous living and in all kinds of iniquity, 
and over whose return he was now having a rejoicing in 
the house?" If God were to act thus, and have a large 
portion of His subjects rebelling against Him in the way 
that this older son rebelled against his father, what con- 
fusion there w^ould be in His government. 

One of the most serious things in any government is the 
question of pardon. How many times have you, who are 
older people in this audience, known the governor of our 
State to pardon a man out of the penitentiary, or to par- 
don a murderer condemned to the gallows, when you are 
satisfied it did good ? Nearly always, when such a par- 
don is issued in our States, the people who are outside the 
circle of the immediate friends and acquaintances of the 
guilty man, feel that justice has been outraged — that an 



REDEMPTION IN CHRIST. 47 

act has been performed by the Executive tending to the 
encouragement of crime. And it is because of suc^i 
things as this in the administration of our government, 
that mobs so often rise up to put to death the murderer, 
for fear he will not get justice if he goes into the hands 
of the law. Now we can not believe that the infiuitely 
wise God, in govermng this universe, would extend par- 
don to any sinner, be he man or angel, in such a way as 
would encourage any other portion of His creatures in 
sin. He could not do, from the very nature of His divine 
being, anything that would encourage others to commit 
sin. An indiscriminate pardon, then, of all sinners, or 
of any sinners, under such circumstances as would lead 
to an encouragement of other people to continue in sin, 
or of the pardoned man to renew his sin, would be no 
wise divine government of this universe. How then is 
the problem solved, of so extending mercy to men who 
deserve everlasting punishment on account of the enor- 
mity of their sins — of extending mercy in such a way, 
that while these men are relieved entirely from all of 
the consequences, no other man is encouraged to com- 
mit sin? 

This is the grand problem of redemption. The Scrip- 
tures give a very different answer from those that I have 
been speaking of. It is said, "God so loved the world," 
sinful as it was, " that He gave His only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish," as 
he deserves to perish, "but should have everlasting life." 
And when that text says God gave His only Son for this 
purpose, it does not mean. He sent Him from heaven to 
earth merely, but. He gave Him up to die. That is the 
giving referred to. The same great thought is expressed 
in a somewhat different way in the text that I have read. 
"In Him we have redemption, even the forgiveness of our 



48 SERMON lY. 

sins." Eight here is the key-note of the whole scheme of 
redemption from eternal ruin and destruction — the for- 
giveness of sins. This can be obtained, this text declares, 
in Christ. Through His blood we have redemption, even 
the forgiveness of sins. Let me say here, my dear 
brethren, that if you were to study a thousand years, 
you would not study out any way by which you could 
believe that God could release us from the penalty of our 
sins, except by forgiveness. If they are forgiven, we T\ill 
not be punished. If they are unforgiven, there is no 
escape from the punishment. So that forgiveness is 
the one thing that sinners need. The Saviour Himself 
expressed the same great thought, when at the Lord's 
Supper He took the cup of wine, and said to them, 
'■ Drink ye all of this, for this is My blood, shed for 
many" — what for? — for what one thing was the blood of 
Christ shed? Just one: "for the remission of sins." 
In His blood, then, and through and by His blood shed 
— in other words, by His death — we are to obtain re- 
demption, even the forgiveness of sins. The Apostle 
Paul says furthermore, carryhig- out the same line of 
thought, that God has set forth Jesus Christ to be a 
propitiation, in order that he might be just in justifying 
him who has faith in Jesus, (Rom. iii. 25, 26), implying 
that God found no way to be just, and at the same time 
to justify the sinner, (and to justify the sinner means to 
allow him to escape the punishment of his sins), except 
by sending foiih His Son to be a propitiatory sacrifice 
for those sins. You all know very well that this is the 
doctrine of the Bible. You can not have read in vain 
so far as this great truth is concerned. 

But now, without expatiating upon these texts, the 
question arises in the human mind, and it has puzzled 
the brain of many a thoughtful man. How can this be 



REDEMPTION IN CHRIST. 49 

explained ? On what principle is it that God, on account, 
or in consequence of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
may extend pardon to guilty sinners, when He could not 
have done it otherwise? 

Some men have very shallow answers to this question. 
They say, Christ died as a martyr dies— showed Himself 
a true martyr to God and truth and right — and by this 
means, by the power of a noble example. He takes hold 
on the consciences of men and lifts them to a higher life. 
Well, there is an unspeakable power in the example of 
the Lord Jesus Christ ; but suppose this were all ; then, as 
I said awhile ago, what becomes of sins ? There they 
stand ; there they are, unforgiven. There they are as 
realities in the past. Unless there is forgiveness, there 
is punishment still awaiting us. This idea contradicts 
both the passages that I have quoted. In another place 
Paul says that Christ's death was for the redemption of 
those sins that were committed under the first covenant, 
(Heb. ix. 15) ; and this shows that His blood made an 
atonement for the sins of men that were committed 
thousands of years before He died. It was not because 
His death had an effect on those men to lift their minds 
and hearts up above sin. They lived and died without 
ever having heard of His death. It shows that the ex- 
planation of which we are speaking is totally inadequate 
— far short of the reality — and contrary to the statements 
of the Bible. 

Another explanation has been given, and it has been 
accepted by thousands of devout and earnest men. It is 
this : That Christ, in His death, actually paid the penalty 
that was due to the sins of the whole world. The Univer- 
salian starts out with this proposition, and draws from it 
his conclusion that therefore all the world will be saved. 
Undoubtedly, Christ tasted death for every man. If 



50 SERMON IV. 

then, ill tasting death for every man, He paid the pen- 
alty due to the sins of every man, a just God can not 
exact the penalty a second time, and therefore all men 
will escape. The Calvanist, the very opposite of the 
Universalian, says, Yes, the principle is true, but He 
paid the penalty only for the elect, and therefore God 
will not exact the penalty a second time from them. The 
elect will all be saved, because Christ suffered in their 
stead and paid the full penalty for their sins. Now, 
while these are two extremes, the one starting out to save 
the elect, and the other to save all men, and yet starting 
from the same assumption, it requires only a very little 
thought to see that they are both wrong. What is the 
penalty due to sin ? As set forth in the texts quoted in 
the argument presented last Lord's day, it is everlasting 
punishment. Did Christ suffer everlasting punishment 
on the cross ? Again, an essential element in the punish- 
ment due to sin, is remorse of conscience. Did Christ 
suffer remorse — torture within his conscience ? AYe have 
only to ask these questions in order to have them 
answered, and to know that Christ did not suffer the 
penalty due to our sins, either in the nature of it, or 
in the duration of it. Furthermore, if this explanation 
were true, what would become of God's mercy, of which 
we read so much in the Bible? If a man owes me a 
debt, and a friend of his comes up and pays me the 
last cent of it, and I hand up his note, have I exhibited 
any mercy toward him? What becomes, if either of 
these doctrines be true, of the idea of forgiveness? If 
God laid the penalty of all the sins of the whole world 
upon Jesus Christ, and let men go because the penalty 
has been paid, has he forgiven any sins ? No more than 
I could be said to forgive a debt because I yield up the 
note of the broken man when his friend has paid me the 



REDEMPTION IN CHRIST. 51 

last cent of it. Starting out, then, to show the mexcy of 
God by showing that He saves all men, that doctrine 
takes all mercy out of the Bible, and out of God's deal- 
ings with the race. Or, if you take it that he saves 
by His mercy the elect, there is no salvation or mercy 
in it, because He exacted the very last amount of suffer- 
ing due for their sins from Him who was the substitute. 
This explanation, then, can not satisfy, it seems to me, 
any man who looks at it without bias — with the fair 
judgment with which we look at other questions. It is 
not taught in the Bible. 

What is, then, the explanation '? Well, I don't know. 
1 don't know. I don't believe any other man knows what 
the reasonmg of God was on this subject, by which he felt 
compelled, according to His own infinite nature, to refuse 
to pardon a single sin except through the blood of His 
Son. I don't know. I don't ]^ow how many sermons I 
have heard, trying to explain it. I don't know how many 
pages — heavy pages — in many books, I have read, from 
some of the ablest men in the world, trying to set it 
forth ; but I have never yet been able to see it ; and if 
any of you have, I congratulate you. 

God's thoughts are not as our thoughts on many 
things. His ways are far above our ways, as heaven 
above the earth, and we may not expect to understand 
the reasons in His mind for the wondrous works of His 
prudence and mercy. I think, on all such themes, we are 
prone to look at the subject from the wrong point of view. 
We try to get at God's ideas about it. It is enough for 
us to see the part w4iich addresses itself to man. There 
are multitudes of things that God does in nature, and 
in the providence that He exercises over the world, the 
divine reasons for which it is utterly impossible for any 
human mind to penetrate ; but it is not difficult, gener- 
ally, when we look at these same inscrutable workings 



52 SERMON IV. 

and ways of providence, to see their effects, and to know 
by their effects that there is wisdom and prudence, as 
the apostle says in my text, behind them all. 

Let us look then at the effect of God's setting forth 
before angels and men, this great scheme of redemption 
through the blood of His Son, and of his declaring that this 
is what enables Him to justify men in the forgiveness of 
their sins. Has it had the effect which pardon so often 
has in this world, of encouraging the subjects of law to 
commit sin? If so, then we would not be able to see in 
it any wisdom. But has it had such an effect ? Do you 
know the effect that this wondrous work of God has had 
upon the minds of angels in Heaven ? Why, it has in- 
spired the sweetest song that they ever sang, instead of 
raising a feeling of rebellion. John heard that song, and 
he says, "I heard the voice of many angels round about 
the thi'one; and the Hving creatures and the elders; and 
the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, 
and thousands of thousands, saying with a great voice, 
worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive the power 
and riches and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, 
and blessing." (Rev. vi. 11-14). That is the view which 
the angels take of it. When from those lofty heights you 
look down upon the effect which it has among men, 
and find the men who have accepted in their hearts 
with profoundest faith that their redemption is through 
the blood of Christ, they are the men who are farthest 
removed from sin of all that dwell upon the earth. It 
has not encouraged them to commit sin, or given them 
any feeling of license against God. And then, when 
you inquire, what is it, of all the things that have 
ever been said in the pulpit, or been read in the New 
Testament, wliich has had the greatest power to turn 
sinners away from their sins, and bring them to God, 
to holiness and to righteousness, you find that it is the 



REDEMPTION IN CHRIST, 53 

fact of redemption in the blood of Christ. The power 
of God to turn the hearts of men away from sin, and 
unto hohness, is embodied in that fact. The preaching 
of the Christ, says Paul, is to the Greeks foolishness, 
and to the Jews a stumbling block; but to us that are 
saved, "the power of God and the wisdom of God." (I. 
Cor. i. 23-24). And yet, I suppose that Paul was no 
more able to look in and see how God's mind worked out 
the problem, than you or I ; for he never told us. We see 
by its effects that it must be wise ; that it is wise ; that it 
is good, that it is the greatest display of the wisdom and 
mercy of the living God that the world has known any- 
thing about, or that angels have ever seen — and that is 
enough for you and me. 

Let me say, my dear brethren and sisters, that this 
redemption in Christ, goes even further than I have yet 
intimated. It not only enables God, when we come to 
Christ ill His appointed way, to forgive our sins, blotting 
out all the past, to take away the threatened penalty and 
grant unto us everlasting bliss and peace of mind ; and, 
what is strangest of all, to take out of our hearts all re- 
morse on account of the many sins we have committed ; 
but it goes beyond that. For we are told that the whole 
creation travails and groans in pain, until this hour, and 
we ourselves, who have received the first fruits of the 
spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting, because there is 
something yet in the future that we have not obtained. 
What is that? ''Waiting for the adoption, even the re- 
demption of the body." (Rom. viii. 18-23). The body 
is to be redeemed as well as the soul, in Christ, and by His 
precious blood — by His death for us. The redemption of 
the body from the corruption of the grave. It is sown in 
corruption ; it is to be raised in incorruption. It is sown 
a weak body ; it is to be raised a strong body. (I. Cor. 
XV. 42-44). It is to be raised in the likeness of Him who 



64 ber:mon it. 

will descend from Heaven in glory ; for when He comes, 
we shall be like Him, and we shall see Him as He is. (I. 
John, iii. 2). You and I do not know how much value 
Ihere is in that. Sometimes we depreciate our bodies. 
Be careful how you do that, my dear friends. When God 
created Adam from the dust of the earth, He made him 
in some mysterious way in the image of God ; and if 
Christ died to redeem our souls, he also died to redeem 
our bodies. Our souls will not live any longer in eternity 
than our raised and glorified bodies will. They will be 
united together never to be separated. I do not know 
anything in the Bible to teach me that God tliinks any 
less of my body than he does of my soul. Brethi*en, take 
care of your bodies. They are the temples of the living 
God . Do not abuse them ; do not use them for vile pur- 
poses. Preserve the health and strength of your body as 
long as you can, for God regards it as a precious tiling; 
and when it is laid in the grave, although it shall become 
food for worms, not one particle of it shall ever be lost 
sight of by His divine eyes. It can not be lost, but will be 
raised again in glory on the Great Day ; and then in a 
body that can never know any pain, shall dwell the 
soul that can no longer feel remorse on account of sin, 
or fear of anything in all eternity to come. The creation 
that is now travailing and groaning and waiting, will 
that day be seen in a revelation of God's power and 
wisdom more glorious than has ever been witnessed in 
this universe of which we form so small a part. This is 
the redemption that is in Christ. 

And now, in conclusion, I want to ask one question, 
and impress it as deeply as I am able, upon eveiy soul in 
this house. 

If sin is of such a nature that God Himself, with all 
His infinite wisdom, and all His undying love toward our 
race, could find no way to redeem us from it, without the 



REDEMPTION IN CHRIST. 55 

shedding of the blood of his own dear Son, the heart's 
blood of Him who came down from Heaven to endm^e the 
ignominious death of the cross for this great end, what 
an awful thin^- sin must be ! Just think of it. And let 
me ask you another question in connection with this. 
Was the evil consequence which God foresaw that sin 
would bring upon us, some little thing, like a scratch upon 
you hand ? Was sin a mere pecadillo ? Was it a mere 
mistake that could bring but little pain upon us ? Would 
the Almighty send His own Son to suffer the agonies of 
the cross in order to redeem us from a little thing like 
that ? Ah ! my dear friends, it is only when we know what 
we endeavored to show you last Lord's day, the darkness, 
the gloom, the gnashing of teeth, the awful agonies of the 
eternal world to which sin is bearing us, that we can real- 
ize why it should cost such a price, and why God should 
be willing to pay such a price, to redeem us from it. Are 
you hving in sin ? Oh ! tremble . before your God ; get 
down on your knees ; lift up your hands and your heart, 
and plead with Him to have mercy on you ; smite your 
breast, and say, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Cast 
yourself into the arms of this Kedeemer who is so ready 
and so anxious to redeem you — to blot out your trans- 
gressions, and to grant you everJasting life. 

Is there a poor, guilty soul here this morning who does 
thus repent ; who does thus tremble ; who desires to leap 
into the arms of the Savior and escape eternal ruin and 
destruction ? We beg you, in Jesus' name, while we sing 
this song — 

"There is a fountain filled with blood 

Drawn from ImmanuePs veins; 
And sinners plunged beneath that flood 
Lose all their guilty stains." — 

we beg you to come and cast yourselves into the deep 
flood of the Savior's dying love. 



J 



SERMON V. 

THE REMISSION OF SINS. 

Evening June 18, 1893. 



"This is my blood of the covenant, which is shed for 
many for the remission of sins.'' — (Matt. xxvi. 28) 

If the purpose of shedding the blood of Christ was to 
obtain t]je remission of sins for men, how important that 
blessing ! There is only one thing that can stand between 
man and his God, only one thing that can keep a man 
out of heaven, and that is sin. There is only one way, 
as we attempted to show this morning, by which we can 
get rid of sin, and that is by the forgiveness of it. And 
consequently, he who dies with his shis forgiven, is ad- 
mitted into heaven — its gates stand wide open to him. 
On the other hand, the Savior says to certain men, " Ye 
shall die in your sins, and where I go ye can not come." 
To die in sm is to die with sins uuforgiven. But the 
expression here used, is "the remission of sins." What 
does this mean'? 

I believe that there are a great many people who have 
a serious misconception of what is meant by the remis- 
sion of sins, They have come to identify remission of sins 
with a change of heart. They think that it is a change 
which takes place within the soul, in which the love of sin 
is taken away, and the love of God and of righteousness 
and truth, takes the place of it. Now, there is such a 
change as that in the heart of every one who becomes a 
Christian. The love of sin must be totally eradicated, 

56 



THE REMISSION OF SINS. 57 

and the love of God must take its place. The desire, the 
great and earnest longing, for a holy life and full com- 
munion with God and everything that is good, must take 
possession of the soul when a man becomes a Christian. 
But let me say that this change takes place in repent- 
ance. 

It is repentance that involves a change of our hearts, 
a turning away from sin, and a repudiation of it by the 
force and strength of our Avill — a longing after everything 
that is good and true in Christ and God. That is repent- 
ance. And you have read your New Testament to very 
little purpose, if you have not long ago learned that re- 
pentance precedes the remission of sins. We are told 
that John the Baptist came in the wilderness preaching 
the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins ; or, 
the baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins, as 
in the revised version. That shows that repentance pre- 
cedes remission of sins. The Savior Himself says that 
repentance and remission of sins were to be preached in 
His name among all nations, and the Apostle Peter ex- 
horted the people in the great discourse in the third 
of Acts, saying, "Kepent and turn, that your sins 
may be blotted out." So, it is clear as day that this 
change called the remission of sins, does not take place 
in repentance, but follows it, and that the change of 
heart required in order that we may be saved, does take 
place when we repent. Nothing could make it plainer 
that it is a great mistake to suppose that remission of 
sins is an inward change of the soul of man. 

The same word in the Greek is translated remission 
that is translated forgiveness. The two English words, 
remission, and forgiveness, are used interchangeably, 
and they mean the same thing. So then, if you are 
ever again in any confusion of thought about that 



58 SERIMON V. 

somewhat unusual expression, remission of sins, re- 
member that it means precisely the same as forgiveness 
of sins. 

Now forgiveness is one of those simple English words, 
the meaning of which is so obvious to every person that 
it is hard to give a definition of it. The definition would 
not make it any plainer. Everybody knows what it is to 
forgive, although we practice it so little. Everybody 
knows what forgiveness is. We extend it sometimes to 
one another — not as often as we should. That is remis- 
sion. The only difference between the two words is^ that 
in the word remission there is a figure of speech. Liter- 
ally, to remit means to throw back, or throw away, and 
it is used simply because, when God forgives our sins, 
He is contemplated as throwing them away, tossing them 
clear off, outside of all subsequent thought or concern in 
regard to them. 

There is another expression used in the Scripture for 
the same thought, which is also figurative. I quoted it 
awhile ago. "Repent and turn," says Peter, "that your 
sins may be blotted out." They are contemplated in that 
expression as having been written down in some book, of 
God's remembrance as it were, and God in forgiving 
them is figuratively represented as blotting out that 
writing. And blotting out with the ancients was a little 
more complete than it is, usually, with us. When we 
write something down with ink, and blot it out, there 
still remain some marks to indicate that once there was a 
writing there. If you write on a slate and rub it out, some 
marks are often left. The ancients used a wax tablet. 
You take one of our common slates and fill it with wax 
even with the frame, and you will have an ancient wax 
tal)let. A sharp pointed instrument made the marks in 
the wax, and when they wished to blot it out, they turned 



THE REMISSION OF SINS. 59 

the fiat end of the stylus and rubbed it over, and there 
was an absokite erasure of every mark that had been 
made. That is the figure, then, used by Peter for the 
forgiveness of sins — indicating that when God forgives 
sins, they are not only thrown away, as in the expression 
remission, but they are blotted out — the last trace of 
them being gone, and gone forever. 

In perfect harmony with this last thought, another 
expression is used. One of the terms of the new^ cov- 
enant that God makes with Israel in these dajs under 
Christ, is this, "their sins and their iniquities, I will 
remember no more" (Heb. viii. 6-13). That is a very 
surprising, an astonishing statement. I do not know 
how God makes oat to forget them. We can't forget 
them : I don't know how He does. I don't know exactly 
what He means when He says, "their sins and their 
iniquities I will remember no more;" unless it means, I 
will never bring them up against you any more. They 
are gone. I have thrown them away ; they are blotted 
out. Brethren, after having lived and groaned under 
sin, with a conscience that has ground us and tormented 
us for a long time, how blessed the relief — how unspeak- 
ably blissful the state, to know that they are blotted out 
— that they are thrown away — that they will never be 
brought up by the great God against us in all eternity — 
that in the day of judgment no mention will be made of 
them ! That is the happy condition of the man who is 
redeemed by the blood of Christ, and has obtained the 
remission of sins. 

And now, you have already seen from what I have 
said in explaining these expressions, not only that the 
change called remission of sins is not a change that takes 
place within us, but that it is an act of the mind of God 
with reference to us. He it is who forgives. He it is 



C)0 SERMON V. 

who blots the record out of the book that He keeps. He 
it is that throws them away. It is He who will remem- 
ber them no more forever. The whole process of the 
remission of sins, is an act in the mind of God with 
reference to us. It is not at all a change within us. The 
change that takes place within us must precede it. All 
the change necessary for our salvation from sin, as re- 
gards our own hearts and souls, must take place ])efore 
He pronounces our freedom from sin. Thus then we dis- 
pose of the question as to what remission of sins is. 

Now we raise another : How are we to know, beyond 
any doubt, so as to feel safe and settled in it, that our 
sins are forgiven? that w^e are redeemed and delivered 
and blessed in this unspeakably glorious and blissful 
way? 

This is a very important question. Thousands and 
thousands of people live today, and have lived in ages 
past, serving God with all earnestness of soul, who have 
never in all their lives come to be satisfied on this 
question. They sing all through their Christian expe- 
rience : 

" 'Tis a point I loug to know ; 

Oft it causes anxious thought; 
Do I love the Lord, or no ? 
Am I his, or am I not?" 

That is a very doleful life to live. Uncertain, unsettled, 
in regard to the most momentous question that can 
affect your souls for time or for eternity. I feel quite 
sure the Lord did not intend us to live on that low 
ground of doubt, and gloom, and hopelessness. I am 
sure that there must be a way by which we may know that 
our sins are forgiven, and may know when it is done. 
But this question is answered very often by men in 
this fashion : I know the very hour and the very minute 



THE REMISSION OF SINS. 61 

when my sins were forgiven, for I felt it all through my 
soul, and all the world could not convince me to the 
contrary. You see there is a great disparity between 
the experiences of men. Some never get over their 
doubts, and some leap over them with one glorious 
bound, and shout " Halleluiah ! " So, they know it by 
the way they feel. They felt it when it took place. They 
felt the sins rolled off. They felt light and joy coming in 
like a blaze from heaven, and they were full of bliss and 
glory and praise. They could not contain themselves 
without a shout. I wonder if that is true. I wonder if 
that is the way that we are to know^ that our sins are 
forgiven. If it is, what a vast multitude of people who 
never find it out ! 

Now one thing is certain about this — that every man, 
in his right senses, knows what takes place in his own 
soul. He knows it by the power we call consciousness, 
a power given to every rational being, by which he takes 
knowledge of every action or change that takes place 
within himself. So, if the forgiveness of sins is a change 
that takes place within the sinner, of course he knows it 
})y feeling it. But we have just now seen that it is not 
any such thing; that it is an act of God, and that it 
takes place in heaven, not within the sinner's heart. 
Then he can not know it by what he feels. He can not 
know it by consciousness. Impossible that he should 
know it thus. The only way by which I can know 
whether my neighbor, whom I have offended, has for- 
given me, is — how? By feeling he has forgiven me? 
You find a little child that has sneaked off into the cor- 
ner, and sat down there, and has been crying and crying 
bitterly, until finally it wipes its tears, gets up and goes 
to play. You say, "My child, what were you crying 
about?" "Because I offended mother." "Well, why 



62 SERMON V. 

did you quit ? Why are you playing and cheerful now '? 
Why did you wipe all your tears away?" "Because 
mother has forgiven me." "Well, how do you know?" 
" Why, I feel it right here." There is no child in Louis- 
ville that is as silly as that. She might say, "Because 
mamma came and kissed me;" or, "Because mamma 
spoke kindly to me ;" or, "Because mamma said, ' My 
child, I am sorry I hurt your feelings ; jump up and run 
and play.'" She might say, it was because mother said 
something that proved to her that she had forgiven her. 
But never, "Because I feel it here." Or, you go to the 
penitentiary where there are seven or eight hundred poor 
wretches confined on account of their crimes, and find 
a man, if you can, who thinks that the governor has 
pardoned him. "Well, my friend, I understand you 
believe you are pardoned." "Yes, I am sure I am par- 
doned." "How are you so sure?" "Why, I/? £* Hike I 
am pardoned." All the prisoners would laugh at him. 
They all know — everybody knows — that one can not tell 
that another person has forgiven him an offense by the 
way he feels. Well, then, how in the name of common 
sense can a man know that God has forgiven him, away 
up yonder m heaven, by the way he feels. That is a 
great mistake. I think I hear some one mentally saying, 
" Why, sir, do you pretend to deny this experience which 
good men so often have?" No. No doubt in the world 
they feel, or felt, precisely as they say. No doubt about 
that. There are too many good, honest, earnest people, 
who are constantly proclaiming such experiences as that, 
for any man of sense to doubt the reality of the feelings 
of which they speak. Of course they feel so. 

Is it proof, though, that God forgave their sins at 
that time ? It is no proof. Because God is up in heaven, 
and it is an act of His up there, and tliey can not know 



THE REMISSION OF SINS. 63 

it by the way they feel. But then, you want to know, is 
there any way to account for that feehng, except by 
claiming that it was the experience of the forgiveness of 
sins? Yes, a very natural, easy way to account for* it. 
That little child of whom I spoke, went off and dropped 
down in a dark corner, and cried and cried until it cried 
its cry out, and naturally felt better; crying brought 
rehef. Sorrow can't last always. Gloom and despond- 
ency can't last always. We would die under sorrow, if 
it did not waste itself, like water from a vessel when 
it is tapped. We could not live under it. The darkness, 
the gloom and the horror, that a widow experiences the 
night her husband dies — they would kill her if there was 
not a natural reaction of the soul bye-and-bye, by which 
the tears are dried up ; and although she does not very 
soon become lively and cheerful, there comes a strange 
kind of calm over her troubled soul, which she does not 
know how to account for. It is the natural reaction of 
the human spirit, after being pressed down under a 
weight of woe. Now, if I have been taught that when 
I come to a full conviction about my sins, and am racked 
with agony in thinking of the hell to which I am going, 
and of the angry God who is stretching out His hand 
over my guilty head, and at length my feelings get calm, 
this change of feeling is proof that my sins are forgiven, 
I must at once be very happy. Believing this to be a 
proof that my sins were forgiven, has the same effect on 
me as if it were a reality. 

Then again, there is such a thing as human beings 
workin;,^ themselves up into a state of ecstacy. It is 
seen in heathen lands ; it is seen among Mohammedans. 
It is seen all the world over ; for where there is an ex- 
treme desire to get into a highly elated and ecstatic 
state, men and women, by a great exertion, can often 



64 SERMON V. 

work tliemselYes into it, especially when they have others 
round about them who urge them on. If they mistake 
everything that is calculated to help them through such 
a struggle and for divine help, believe that when they 
reach that state of ecstacy, this is a gleam of pardon 
from heaven, they can not restrain the shout of praise, 
the halleluiah, the "glory to God," which bursts from 
then* lips. But all this is a natural working of the 
human soul. x\ll this takes place within our own hearts. 
It is not that act of the Almighty in heaven in which He 
says, "Thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven." It 
is not that. It is on eai*th, and He is in heaven. 

If a man is convinced that he is pardoned, he is just 
as happy as if he were, though wrongly convinced. A 
man up in the penitentiaiy was deceived. Some of the 
officers concluded they would play a joke on him: so 
they brought to him a pardon regularly made out on 
the blank form the Governor uses, with his name signed, 
and a fictitious appearance of the seal of state, and said : 
"Here, Tom, the Governor has pardoned you. Here's 
yom- pardon." The poor fellow beUeved it, and began to 
leap and dance and throw off his old striped clothes, and 
call for those he wore to prison ; and looked to see the 
officer come who was to take him out. He was as happy 
as could be, until he waited long and nobody came, and 
he saw the crowd begin to titter at his expense ; and then 
he sank. While he believed that the pardon was gen- 
uine, he was just as happy as if it had been. And so, 
any person, on reaching a certain state of feeling which 
he verily beheves is proof of forgiveness of sins, would be 
as happy as heaven could make him, for a little while. 

But how uncertam the foundation on which such con- 
^-ictions rest. What a common experience it is for those 
who have been thus led to think that they were pardoned, 



THE REMISSION OF SINS. 65 

to doubt and doubt for a time, and then, when there 
comes a glorious wave of feehng, to say. Oh ! it is true, I 
was converted, and then, when a gloomy wave rolls over 
the soul — all doubt and gloom again. This is the un- 
happy experience of a vast multitude of the good people 
of this earth, all growing out of the mistaken idea that 
we can tell whether .God has forgiven our sins or not 
by the way we feel. 

How can we know ? How can we settle this momentous 
question ? I do not think there is any other way, except 
to get some word from God in regard to it ; some sign, or 
some token, or some message direct from Heaven ; some- 
thing that God has said Himself that makes it plain. If 
I have offended my friend, and he extends his hand, and 
says "My dear brother, I want to make up this quarrel," 
then I know he has forgiven me — 1 experience no doubt 
or uncertainty about it. 

I presume then that God has some way of communi- 
cating the fact of forgiveness to us, in plain, clear 
indications that it came from Him. A good many years 
ago, when they were first putting up telegraph wires — 
shortly after Morse extended the line from Washington 
to Baltimore — there was quite a prominent preacher in 
the vicinity where I lived, who admitted that we can not 
know that our sins are forgiven without some such com- 
munication on the subject, from God ; but he said, 
"Brethren, God has a kind of a spiritual telegraph reach- 
ing from Heaven to earth, and touching every human 
soul ; and when He forgives the sins of a man. He touches 
that spiritual wire at the other end, and it is immediately 
communicated to the heart of the penitent sinner." Well, 
that came very much nearer being an explanation in har- 
mony with the facts in the case, than what I was talking 
about a while ago. But how about that spiritual tele- 



66 SERMON Y. 

graph? If it comes down from God, and I do not see it, 
nor hear the ticking of the instrument, all I know as to 
whether the message has been sent or not is what I feel. 
What evidence have I except my own feelings in the 
matter ? The explanation is unsatisfactory ; the illustra- 
tion does not help out the case, because it leaves the sin- 
ner still to look into his own feelings to know whether or 
not God has forgiven him. 

Now there is a way, and it is this — God has said, over 
and over again in his blessed written word, in the plain- 
est possible language, what you and I shall do in order to 
forgiveness of our sins ; what we shall think ; what we 
shall feel ; what we shall believe ; w^hat w^e shall do ; and 
He pledges His own blessed word that when we do these 
He Avill forgive us. When a man knows these things, and 
complies wdth them to the very last point, he has God's 
pledged word that his sins are forgiven — the w'ord of Him 
who can not lie. Here is something solid to build on, the 
pledged w^ord of the living God. This makes it certain. 
The things He tells us to do, are things we can not be mis- 
taken about. God says, when you do these you shall be 
forgiven. In this way we may have the highest evidence 
this universe affords that our sins are forgiven. We build 
on a rock, when we rest our convictions on such an assur- 
ance as this. 

We might illustrate. Take the matter of executive 
pardon. The Go\ernor says to the poor convict in the 
penitentiary, here is a pledge for you to sign of the kind oi 
life that you will lead hereafter if I set you free. I leave 
it here on this table. The very moment you sign it I par- 
don you. When the man studies it all over, makes up 
his mind, takes his pen and signs the paper, what assur- 
ance has he of a pardon? He is just as certain of it, as 
that the word of the Governor is good. I give you a 



THE REMISSION OF SINS. 67 

check for one thousand dollars. I say to you, Go down 
to the bank now, endorse that check, and hand it to the 
cashier, and he will place it to your credit on his books, 
and you can draw on that bank for one thousand dollars. 
You go and do it, and when you walk out and shut the 
door, do you feel any certainty that you have one thou- 
sand dollars there that you can draw on ? You feel just 
as certain of it, as you are certain of the honesty and 
solvency of that bank. You go away perfectly satisfied 
that you have one thousand dollars there, although you 
have not seen a cent of it. You have not handled a single 
dollar of it ; yet it is there ; it is yours. Y^ou do not doubt 
it. Just so in this case with God. When God says. Do 
so and so, and your sins, I will blot them out, every one 
of them, and remember them no more forever; when you 
have done those things, as sure as God tells the truth, 
you are pardoned. You are forgiven. You do not rest 
it upon any uncertain emotions of your own heart, the 
cause of which you can not always tell. Y^ou rest it on 
the solid rock of the promise of the living God. 

Has God thus dealt with us? I wiU say in brief, 
what I expect to set forth fully and elaborately in subse- 
quent discourses, that He has. He has said that he that 
believes in His dear Son with all his heart, repents sin- 
cerely of all his sins, and is buried with the Lord in bap- 
tism, shall be forgiven. Can you believe God ? If you 
can, if you do, and go and do these three things — one 
with your mind; one with your heart; one with your 
body ; when you have done them all you have to doubt 
the truthfulness of God before you can doubt that your 
sins are forgiven; and I have never in all my life, met 
a man who intelligently acted thus, that ever had a linger- 
ing doubt to the last day of his life that his sins were 
then and there forgiven. 



68 SERMON V. 

Are there sinners in this house tonight with unforgiven 
sins ? Oh I what a condition you are in. Wliat a condit- 
ion ! You can't go to heaven with those sins. Where 
Christ and God are, you can not go. Die with the guilt of 
those sins upon your soul, and the penalty that God has 
attached is yours for eternity. You can not be happy 
while you live in sin. It has torments with it day after 
day, and the only easy moments you have in the world 
are when, by some strange infatuation, you forget that 
you are a sinner, and forget your God — forget death and 
eternity. You know^ this very well. Do you desire re- 
mission of those sins ? Do you desire that they be blot- 
ted out of God's remembrance ? Do you desire the stain 
of that guilt to be taken out of your heart ? Do you desire 
heaven and the angels to smile upon you, instead of 
frowning '? Do you desire a hope of immortality to cheer 
you on your way ? Then come to Jesus according to those 
conditions by which He oifers you that which He pur- 
chased with His own blood, free and complete and per- 
fect and eternal forgiveness, and you will be happy. 
You will experience all that I have just now described, 
and more. Beyond all the conception you have ever 
formed will be the peace of mind, passing all understand- 
ing, which will take possession of your soul. We plead 
with you to come ; do not delay ; but, as you are now a 
sinner, and the Saviour is now before you, be saved by 
casting yourself upon his mercy to-night. 



SEEMON YI. 
CONDITIONS OF FOEGIYENESS. 



Morning June 25, 1893. 



Having read Matthew, xvi, 13-20, I now read in the 
second chapter of x\cts of Apostles, verses 37 to 41: — 

"Now when they heard this'' (the preceding discourse 
by Peter) "they were pricked in their hearts." (I suppose 
we have all felt that sensation, as if something sharp had 
been stuck into our hearts suddenly), "And said to Peter 
and the rest of the Apostles, Brethren, what shall we do? 
And Peter said to them, Repent ye, and be baptized every 
one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission 
of your sins ; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 
For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all 
that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall 
call unto him. And with many other words he testified and 
exhorted them, saying," (this is the substance of it) "Save 
yourselves from this crooked generation. They then that re- 
ceived His word were baptized ; and there were added unto 
them in that day about three thousand souls." 

When the conversation which I read to you from the 
16th of Matthew occurred, the Saviour was nearly through 
with his Gallilean ministry. It lacked only a little over six 
months to the day of his crucifixion. He had not, while 
going about in G a llilee, told men who He was ; ])ut He 
had taught them in their synagogues, had preached the 
Gospel, had healed all manner of diseases and sickness 
among the people, and cast out demons; and had left 
every man to form his own judgment as to who He was. 
Now, when the people and the disciples had seen a full 



70 SERMON VI. 

representation by a multitude of examples of His mar- 
velous power ; had heard Him set forth in discourse all 
his teachings, and nearly all that He intended to say 
about the coming kingdom; He caUs upon the disciples 
to tell Him, *'Who do men say that the Son of man is ?" 
People, of course, ^N'ould speak more freely their opinions 
of Jesus in the presence of the disciples, and in conver- 
sation with them, than they would in addressing Him. 
Hence, they had opportunities to hear the opmions of 
men of all classes, which Jesus Himself had not. ''Who," 
then. He says to them, "do men say that I am?" The 
answer is a very significant one. *'Some say that thou 
art John the Baptist" (that was Herod's opinion, amongst 
others), "raised from the dead. Some say that thou art 
Elijah; some, that thou ai*t Jeremiah" (of course come 
back from the dead). "Some say that thou art one of 
the prophets;" and these last had not made up their 
minds which one. It seems then that these are all the 
opinions that these disciples had heard expressed about 
Jesus, and you will observe that they had not heard a 
single man say that this Jesus is nobody but a common 
man ; not one had said that. And they had all come to 
conclusions, which, as is usual with unbelievers, were 
harder to believe than the truth itself. It seems to me 
that it was a great deal harder to believe that Jesus was 
John the Baptist raised from the dead; or Elijah come 
back from heaven; or Jeremiah, who had been dead over 
six hundred years, alive again; or any of those old pro- 
phets ; than to believe that He was the Messiah, the Sou 
of God. 

Then He put the question to them, "Who do you say 
that I am ?" And by this question He wished to draw 
out from these disciples a free and full expression of the 
judgment that they had formed about Him, from all that 



CONDITIONS OF FOROn^NESS. 



71 



they had seeu und heard. Peter, always the foremost 
to speak, but in this instance expressing the judgment 
of them all, because the question was put to them all, 
and not to him alone, says : *'Thou art the Christ, the 
Son of the living God." That is the judgment that we 
have formed. He blessed Peter: "Blessed art thou, 
Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed 
this to thee." If you had listened to Herod, or to the 
priests, or the scribes, or the people, you never would 
have come to this conclusion; but "my Father in heaven 
hath revealed it." God had revealed it to Peter by wdiat 
Jesus had said and done, Peter's mind being open to 
hear the silent voice of God which spoke through all these 
wondrous words and wondrous deeds. 

Then Jesus painted a picture before the minds of these 
twelve disciples, a very striking picture. He represents 
Himself as about to build a Chm-ch that He compares to 
a great walled city with gates to it, and He paints Peter 
as the gate-keeper, and He is going to build that Church 
on a rock, — solid foundation that can not be undermined — 
and he depicts that before them. Then there is another 
city, with its walls and gates painted in dark colors, death 
pouring out of those gates to make war upon this first city ; 
but he says it shall not prevail. He paints the picture 
in these w^ords — "On this rock I will build My Church, 
and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it ; and I 
will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and 
whatever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in 
heaven, and whatever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be 
loosed in heaven." In that picture, notice, He makes 
Himself the builder of the City, and in the painting you 
will see Jesus standing on some high position, giving 
directions to all the workmen. He pamts Peter standing 
by one of the gates, with a bunch of keys in his hands. 



fl SERMON \I. 

Then He paints a great ledge of rock, lying under the 
Avhole city. What does that rock symbolize ? Some say 
it means Peter, but it would spoil the picture to say that. 
You would have to take Peter away from the gate and 
change him into the great ledge of rock, to make him the 
foundation. Others say it is Jesus Himself ; but that also 
would spoil the picture he has drawn; you would have 
to take him do^-n from the high wall as the chief archi- 
tect, and change Him into the great rock, and stretch 
Him out under the walls. That is not the picture which 
Jesus painted. Leave Him Avhere He is. Leave Peter 
where Jesus placed him ; and hunt for something else to 
stand for that rock. What is it ? Undoubtedly it is that 
which Peter had confessed, ''Thou art the Christ, the Son 
of the hying God ;" for on that tmth the Church is built ; 
on that truth it stands to-day. If infidels could disprove 
the proposition that *'Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the 
living God," the whole Church would tumble into ruins 
the very moment they did so. As long as that fact re- 
mains true in the estimation of men, the Church stands 
on an impregnable rock, where, according to the asser- 
tion of Jesus, all the powers of hades can never prevail 
against it. This is the picture drawn, and this is the 
lesson taught; and from this lesson starts foi-ward the 
great current of subsequent history in the labors of these 
apostles. 

At the close of the conversation, however, a veiy re- 
markable restriction is laid upon them, that they should 
not tell any man that Jesus was the Christ, until He 
should be risen from the dead. When the apostles were 
sent out to preach under their first commission, they 
were not to preach Jesus ; they were to announce that the 
Kingdom of God was at hand, but they were not to say a 
word about tbeir ^Easter; and now he tells them that not 



CONDITIONS OF FORGIVENESS. 73 

even in private conversation, much less in public discourse, 
were they to tell any man that He was the Christ, until 
He should have risen from the dead. I think that must 
have appeared very strange to them. 

About six or eight days afterward, He was on a high 
mountain, and in the darkness of the night, when the 
apostles had fallen asleep while He was praying, they 
were awakened by the sound of voices. There stood Jesus 
transfigured in glory ; there stood Moses on one side and 
Elijah on the other in glory; and there came a bright 
cloud up against the side of the mountain, and out of that 
bright cloud, they heard the voice of the eternal God, 
saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased; hear Him." Those men fell like dead men, 
overpowered by wdiat they had seen and heard ; but when 
they finally recovered, there was no one there but Jesus, 
and night had resumed her sway. This vision taught 
them an additional lesson. He is not Elijah; He is not 
one of the prophets ; but He is so far above them, being 
the Christ, the Son of the living God, that hereafter we 
are to hear Him instead of them. Moses and the proph- 
ets are laid aside, and Jesus is the authority to whom we 
must hereafter bow. But strange to say, as they came 
down from the mountain the next morning. He said to 
them, "Tell no man of this vision, until after the Son of 
man is risen from the dead." Brethren, what a bmiiing 
secret those three disciples had locked up in their bosoms 
the rest of the time of the life of Jesus; the greatest 
vision that their eyes had ever witnessed ; the most im- 
pressive one that their hearts had ever felt; and they 
were told not to tell it ; not to tell it to a brother disciple ; 
not to tell it to their nearest friend. Keep it as a secret 
in your own bosoms. I wonder if they did. They were 
better at keeping secrets than some of us, if they did. 



74 SEEMON YI. 

And if they did, what a struggle they had to make to keep 
from telling it. They followed Jesus for six months or 
more afterward, seemg wonderful things, and if they ever 
felt Hke telling any one that He was the Christ, they had 
to hold in. If they ever felt like telling anyhody the glori- 
ous vision they had seen on the mountain, they must grit 
their teeth and hold their tongues. And I suspect they won- 
dered how long that was to last. Until the Son of man 
is risen from the dead? They did not beheve he was 
going to die, and of course, they did not believe He would 
rise from the dead. They thought He was talking in 
parables. What mystery and wonder were wrapt about 
theii' thoughts ! But finally he did die. Their hearts sank 
within them. They wept and mourned, and when Mary 
came running to tell them He was risen, she found them 
weeping and mourning, and they would not believe it. 
But they saw Him themselves. They rejoiced to know that 
He meant just what He said when He said PTe was 
going to be put to death and to rise again on the third 
day; and here He is, alive again. They were glad to 
know that He was alive, but that was all they knew for 
a time, until finally, having met them on the mountain 
in Gallilee, He said, *'A11 authority in heaven and on 
earth, is given to Me." What an amazing statement 
for a man whom the chief priests had taken and con- 
demned, and whom Pilate had killed and laid in 
the grave. But they believed it. Havmg said this to 
show them that He had the right and authority to speak 
the words that came next, He says to them: "Now, do 
you go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them 
into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Spirit ; and 1 ) ! I am with you always, even to the end 
of the world." I wonder how those twelve poor men, feel- 
ing their weakness — I wonder how they thought and felt 



CONDITIONS OF FORGIVENESS. /O 

when they were told to go and make disciples of all the 
nations of this earth. They were not to go yet, however, 
for He had locked their lips. He had said, do not tell 
any man that I am the Christ; do not tell that vision; 
and they must have special direction unlocking tbeir 
lips before they begin their mighty task. So, on the very 
day of his ascension to heaven, he said to them again : 
''Go ye and preach the Gospel to the whole creation. He 
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; he that be- 
lieveth not shall be condemned ;" but tarry here in Jeru- 
salem until ye be clothed with power from on High ; for 
not many days hence, the Holy Spirit shall come upon 
you ; then shall ye testify of Me in Jerusalem, in Sama- 
ria, in Judea, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. 
(Mark xvi. 16 ; Luke xxiv. 46-49 ; Acts i. 5-8). So, after 
they had gazed until He ascended up into heaven, and 
was seated on the right hand of God, they came back to 
Jerusalem, and were daily in the temple waiting — they 
did not know how long they had to wait — waiting for the 
coming of thcit Spirit which should open their lips to 
speak to the world in His name. 

The day of Pentecost came ; there they were as usual, 
seated in the court of the temple. Suddenly, a sound 
rumbled through the sky as if a great tornado were tear- 
ing the air, although it was probably perfectly still, and 
these men felt themselves moved inwardly by a new 
power. They saw flames like tongues from heaven, and 
under the power that came upon them, they began to 
speak to the multitude in the temple, addressing all in 
all the different languages represented by the nations 
there assembled. They were full of the Spirit, and the 
Spirit now moves them. The time when they can 
tell all they know about Jesus freely and fully to the 
world, has come. Jesus had been taken to His king- 



<b .SERMON VI. 

dom iu lieaveu. His kingdom lias been set np there. 
And when they liad praised God to the amazement of 
those people, in all their tongues — sitting there in then- 
places — Peter arose. He has the keys of the kingdom of 
heaven now in his hand ; he is now going to execute his 
liigh commission to open the gates, already established, 
and let in those who are entitled to enter, and for the 
fii-st time in his life, he begins to tell men who Jesus is. 
He delivers a discom-se, in which he shows them that the 
same Jesus whom they had taken with wicked hands, 
ci-ucified and slain, God had raised from the dead. That, 
in accordance with God's own pre-determined will and 
foreknowledge, he had been delivered into theii* hands. 
He quotes from the prophets to prove this. He brings 
forward the testimony of himself and companions to the 
e:ffect that He had been raised from the dead, and they 
had seen Him with their eyes, and handled Him with 
their hands. He goes farther, and shows that God had 
said to Him, ''Sit thou on my right hand, until I make 
all Thy foes Thy foot stool." He winds up his argument 
with the thi'illing announcement, "Let all the house of 
Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same 
Jesus whom ye ciTiciiied, both Lord and Christ" — Lord of 
heaven and earth, and the Christ who was predicted by 
the prophets. This was Peter's first sermon — the first one 
ever delivered since the ascension of Jesus to heaven — 
the first one ever delivered since the blood of the cove- 
nant was shed on Calvary — the first discom-se ever 
preached in the kingdom of the Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ in which we live. 

What was the efiect of it? A vast portion of that 
countless host who stood within the range of Peter's voice, 
felt pricked in theii* heart — that sense of guilt which must 
overwhelm a man when l^e realizes that he is ejuiltv of 



CONDITIONS OF FORGIVENESS. i i 

murder — that lie is guilty of the murder of the Son of the 
living God, the greatest crime that human beings ever 
committed. And there came a voice from three thousand 
of them all at once, crying out, "Brethren, what shall we 
do ?" Do for what ? Do to get rid of this pricking at our 
hearts. Do to get rid of our awful crime ; do to get rid of 
our sins before God, and escape the wrath of God in the 
eternal day? That is what they meant. What is his 
answer ? "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the 
name of Jesus Christ, unto the remission of your sins, and 
ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Oh ! what an 
easy escape! How promptly, how quickly it enables 
them by doing this to escape from the fearful condition in 
which they are trembling and guilty ! And then to assure 
them still further, "The promise is to you" — the promise 
of this remission of sins and gift of the Holy Spirit, "is to 
you," not only to you, but "to your children, and to all 
that are afar off" — for they had been commanded to 
carry it to the whole creation. But Peter did not stop 
there. After the manner of modern preachers, knowing 
how hard it is to move men ; knowing how often men are 
unwilling to do their duty when it is pointed out to them, 
he went on with many other words to testify and to 
exhort them, all of his exhortation being expressed in the 
text by the one sentence, "Save yourselves from this 
crooked generation." This crooked generation is like a 
sinking ship ; save yourselves from its fate. It is like a 
burning house ; save yourselves from its fate by coming 
out and doing what I have told you. How different the 
result was from what we so often see in great assemblies 
of modern times. As many as received that word were 
l)aptized, and three thousand of them were added that 
very day. Peter had come in contact with three thou- 
sand men of tender consciences, strong wills, and decision 



78 SERMON VI. 

of character, who had only to know their duty, to do it 
without a moment's delay ; and before the sun had set 
that evening, they were rejoicing in the forgiveness of 
their sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

There the first Church was established — started on 
its career. There the kingdom of God was organized, 
and it was built on that same rock of which Jesus had 
spoken, belief that He w-as the Christ, the Son of the 
living God. Peter had opened the gates. It w^as he to 
whom Jesus had said, "Whatsoever thou shalt bind on 
earth s'jall be bound in heaven, and w^hatsoever thou shalt 
loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven;" and what he 
said was ratified on the thi'one of God. It was the abso- 
lute, the eternal, the unchangmg truth. 

Now, let us see if we can gather from this brief story 
what conditions tee have to comply with in order to re- 
ceive the benefit of the redemption, even the forgiveness 
of sins, which is provided in the blood of Christ. 

Remember, what Peter said was addressed not only 
to them, but to their descendants, and to " all that are 
afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call 
to Him ;" and that includes you and me. What condi- 
tions did they comply with? First of all, we see as 
plainly as if we heard them say it, that they believed 
what Peter preached; for they would not have been 
pricked in their heart, and cried out in anguish, "Breth- 
ren, what shall w^e do," if that story had passed idly into 
one ear and out of the other. They believed it pro- 
foundly. In the second place, they were told to repent ; 
and w^hen a man, standing before the bar of God, is 
called upon to repent, it means that he must repent of all 
liis ungodliness. In the third place, they were told, and 
the apostle is very specific in this, "Let every one of you 
be baptized in the name of Jesus." These three things 



CONDITIONS OF FORGIVENESS. iV 

they were to do. And then they were to receive, first, 
remission of sins ; and second , the gift of the Holy Spirit ; 
so that from that time on they might have that Spirit of 
God, of which the Apostle Paul says, that he who has 
not the Spirit is not His, hut if we have the Spirit of 
God, then God will raise again our mortal bodies by His 
Spirit that dwelleth in us. Can there be any doubt 
about this? Can there be any doubt that when those 
men believed, repented, and were baptized that day, 
that every one of them received the remission of sins ? 
that every one of them received the gift of the Holy 
Spirit? And if there is no doubt about this, if you and 
I do the same to-day, will we not receive the same bles- 
sings ? 

But let us notice before we conclude, that exhortation 
of Peter — "Save yourselves." There are two things in 
this little piece of history that come right in the face of 
a great deal of the preaching of the present day. The 
first is the question of those people, "Brethren, what 
shall we do?" How many preachers there are in the 
present day who would scoff at the idea of doing. Do ? 
Why, you are mistaken ; sinners are dead ; they can not 
do anything. All the doing is to be on the part of God 
and the Holy Spirit ; you have nothing to do ; you can 
not do anything. And this idea has become so popular 
that it has gone into the song which expresses the sen- 
timent, "Down with your deadly doing." Did Peter tell 
them they could do nothing? When they cried out, 
"What shall we do," he told them something to do. 
This shows that it is an awful mistake to suppose that 
the sinner has nothing to do, and can do nothing. 

The other remark is this : " Save yourselves from this 
crooked generation." Where will you find the preachers 
of this day, who would exhort sinners to save themselves ? 



80 ser:mon vi. 

If Peter were to come into some modern congregations, 
and get up before ungodly men and use this exhortation, 
sajdng, "Save youi-selTes/' what an awful heretic he 
would appear to be ! That shows there is something 
wrong, either in Peter, the man who held the keys, the 
man who had power to open and to shut the gates, whose 
word was ratified in heaven — something wTong about his 
preaching, or something wrong about a good deal of 
modem preaching. There is a sense in which a man 
can no more save himself than he can make a world. 
He can not make an atonement for his sins by blood. 
That Jesus did for him. He can not forgive his own 
sins, and thus save himself. That is done for him by 
the Heavenly Father, through the blood of Chiist. On 
the other hand, there is a sense in which, if a man does 
not save himself, he will never be saved. Who is it that 
is to believe"? God can not beheve for us. We do the 
believing. Who is it that is to repent? Neither God, 
nor angels, nor our godly parents, can repent for us. 
We must repent. Who is to be baptized? The living 
can not be baptized for the dead. No human being can 
be baptized for another. It is an individual — a personal 
duty to be baptized. So then, when Peter told those 
people to beheve, to repent, and to be baptized, that they 
might receive the remission of sins, and then right after 
that, says, " Save yourselves," not a man in that audi- 
ence was so stupid as not to see what he meant. If a 
man were out in the water by the side of a ship, strug- 
gling, you throw liim a rope, and say, *' Save yourself, 
sir;" he would know what you meant — that he must 
seize that rope and cling to it, to be pulled on board. 
And so, in being saved by the gi-ace of God, we must 
seize the help that God holds out to us from heaven. 
Now, are there any unsaved souls in this house this 



CONDITIONS OF FORGIVENESS. 81 

morning? Are there any still under the wrath of God, 
because all their sins remain unforgiven? Christ has 
died for you, my dear friends. He has made it possible 
for God to be just in justifying you; but then, there are 
conditions laid do^Yn for you to comply with, in order 
that you may receive the benefit of that shed blood. 
Here they are : Do you believe that Christ is the Son of 
the living God? Are you penitent? Do you mourn 
over your sins ? Are you wr:ling to forsake them ? Can 
you make up your mind io-day that you will, without 
further delay, forsake all sms, and come to God and 
serve him? If so, you have repented. Now, show that 
you have repented by doing what you have resolved to 
do. Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, rise from 
that watery burial Avith the assurance given by the 
promise of God that your sins are forgiven ; then do as 
these people did, be steadfast from that day on, in the 
apostles' teaching, in the breaking of bread, in fellow- 
ship, in your prayers ; and when your journey is ended. 
He whom you have served will receive you, and say 
to every one, "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 



SERMON Vri. 



FAITH. 



Evening June 25, 1S93. 



The first verse of the eleventh chapter of the Epistle 
to the Hebrews : 

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the 
evidence of things not seen." 

We all know very well that faith in the Lord Jesus 
Christ is an essential condition of the salvation of those 
to whom the Gospel is preached. "He that believeth 
and is baptized, shall be saved. He that believeth not, 
shall be condemned." It is important, then, that we 
know, without any uncertainty or obscurity about it, what 
faith is ; otherwise, we may not know w^hether we have it 
or not. It is importa.nt, too, to know how we may obtain 
faith, if we have it not ; and how to increase it, if we have 
it. It is also important for us to understand how faith 
contributes to our salvation, or we may mis-apply it. 

I propose, then, to discuss these three questions to- 
night, and to do it in the light of this masterly discussion 
of the subject of faith which I have read you in the first 
ten verses of this chapter. The whole chapter is devoted 
to the subject, but it is too long, contains too much 
matter, to be embraced in a single discourse. 

The apostle begins by telling us what faith is, and 
then, just as if he were imitating some of our best lexi- 
cons of the modern times, he follows up the statement as 
to what faith is, by a long list of examples of it, so that 

82 



FAITH. 83 

if any one should fail to get the idea from the description 
or definition, he would get it from the examples ; at any 
rate, by use of the two together, he could not fail, if he 
used proper industry, to understand the subject. Unfor- 
tunately, however, for you and me, this first verse, which 
I think is properly called a definition of faith, though 
that is doubted by many scholars, is translated to us in 
words that are very obscure. I read in the outset from 
the revised version, and I last read from the King James 
version. The latter reads thus: "Now faith is the sub- 
stance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not 
seen." What idea do you get from that language ? We 
know very well w^hat substance is. The substance of 
this desk is wood. The substance of a speech is the 
chief thought, or the principal thoughts, that run through 
it. So of a book. Now can you conceive that faith, in 
this sense — in either of these senses of the w^ord sub- 
stance — is the substance of things we hope for ? No 
thought expressed in that. The substance of our hope 
of pardon, our hope of God's blessing, our hope of the 
resurrection of the dead, our hope of heaven, are very 
different things from faith. Is faith the evidence of 
things not seen? Faith is the evidence of some cause 
that leads to faith, for it could not have existed wdthout 
that cause; and that may be some unseen thing; but 
surely, the apostle can not mean that. The things that 
are unseen concerning which we have faith — such things 
as God, angels, heaven, hell, the wondrous things of the 
past, the unspeakable things of the present spiritual 
world, and the world to come — now faith is not evidence 
of these things, but faith is the result of evidence which 
convinced us of them. 

The revised version does not make the matter much 
better. It says, "Faith is assurance of things hoped 



M SERMON VII. 

for." There is a clear idea in that, and I have no doubt 
it is true. And it says in addition, "It is a proving of 
things not seen." Now our faith does not prove any- 
thing about unseen matters. I do not see how it is 
possible that that can be a correct rendering. I have 
been puzzled a good deal in former years over this verse, 
and the proper rendering of it, and in searching about 
through various learned works for something that would 
be clear and satisfactory, I fell upon a translation of it 
in Eobinson's great Lexicon of the Greek New Testament. 
Edward Eobinson was probably the most learned phil- 
ologist that the Presbyterian Church of the United States 
has ever produced, and he translates the verse, " Faith 
is confidence as to things hoped for; conviction as to 
things not seen." Now that is as clear as a bell. Faith 
is thus defined as having relation to two classes of ob- 
jects: things hoped for, and things unseen. But the 
latter class includes the former. All the things that we 
hope for are unseen. That which you see and have in 
your presence is not an object of hope, but, whilst the 
things not seen include the things hoped for, faith con- 
tains diiferent elements with reference to these two 
different classes of objects. 

"With reference to the things that are unseen — and 
that expression includes everything in the past, the 
present and the future, that is not an object of sight 
or knowledge — with reference to them, faith is conviction, 
and that means that when we have faith about them, we 
are convmced in regard to them. Now many of those 
things in the future that are unseen, are objects of hope; 
those in the past are not. We do not hope for what is 
past. And when this unseen thing on which faith rests 
is an object of hope, then that other element of faith 
comes in — confidence as to things hoped for. I think 



FAITH . 85 

that is very clear. I have always felt very thankful to 
that distinguished scholar for the clearest and best 
translation I have met of this verse. 

With this statement of what faith is — and I think it 
includes all that there is in faith — I propose that we go 
on and look at the illustrations— a few of them — or the 
examples, and see how well they fit the definition, and 
thus get a clearer conception of it — one that will impress 
the memory more. 

The first example that he presents is our faith in the 
fact that God created the worlds. " By fpjth we under- 
stand that the worlds w^ere made by the word of God." 
Well, there is an unseen and w^ondrous event away back 
in the past. Our belief in that is a conviction as to an 
unseen thing. It suits the latter part of the definition. 
But, as that unseen thing, the creation of the world by 
the word of God, is not an object of hope with us, the 
element of confidence as to things hoped for, does not 
enter into that example of faith. 

The next example is the faith of Abel. " By faith 
Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than 
Cain." In this the apostle does not say, as many 
seem to imagine, that Abel had a more excellent faith 
than Cain; he does not compare the two faiths at 
all; but that Abel ofiered unto God a more excellent 
sacrifice than Cain did. What w^as the object on which 
Abel's faith rested, when he brought that sacrifice ? He 
offered it to an invisible God, and there w^as conviction 
as to a being unseen. Then, he offered that victim with 
the hope of receiving a blessing from the hand of that 
invisible God, and his doing so shows that he had confi- 
dence in the object of his hope. And, don't you see, it 
was not the mere conviction that moved him to make 
the offering ; but it was the confident expectation of the 



86 sEPvivroN VII. 

blessing that moved his heart and strengthened his 
hand. 

The next example is that of Enoch. " By faith Enoch 
Tvas translated, so that he was not found," when they 
hunted for him. Here our author, seeing that nothing 
is said in the histoiy of Enoch in the Old Testament 
about his having any faith, feels the necessitj^ of proving 
that he had ; so he proceeds to say that " before his 
translation he had testimony that he was well pleasing 
to God ; but without faith it is impossible to please God, 
seeing that if a man comes io God, he must believe that 
He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diHgently 
seek Him." In these words the apostle brings out the 
two elements of Enoch's faith. He believed that God is 
— the conviction of an unseen thing. He beHeved that 
God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him — 
confidence as to a hoped for reward. And, under that 
confidence, he walked with God and pleased Him. 

Noah's faith is the next example. " By faith Noah, 
being warned of God of things not seen as yet" (here he 
brings in the veiy terms of his definition, referring to the 
unseen flood j-et in the future), " moved with godly fear, 
prepared an ark to the saving of his family." Here was 
conviction as to an unseen disaster that was to sweep 
over the earth, threatening the life of every human being, 
and here was confidence in the hoped for deliverance of 
his own family under the promise that God had made; 
and this confidence nerves him to the tremendous under- 
taking of building the greatest vessel that ever floated on 
water. I do not know how they could build ships in 
those early days -snth such immense capacity. This one 
went on a voyage of twelve months without coming in 
sight of land, then stranded on the top of a mountain 
where it lay till all the water sank away, and still it did 



FAITH. 87 

not break up. In building it, Noali was moved by faith. 
The next example is that of Abraham. Two incidents 
of his life are brought out to illustrate his faith. First, 
"By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a 
country that he should afterward receive for an inherit- 
ance, obeyed and w^ent out, not knowing whither he went." 
Was not that a strange journey? He left his native land 
and kindred, and went off on a journey, he did not know 
how long, did not know how far, to receive a land for an 
inheritance ; and he did not know where the land was. There 
was conviction as to an unseen and an unknown country, 
and a confident hope of possessing it. Moved l)y that confi- 
dent expectation of having the land for an inheritance, he 
made the long journey of 1,300 miles from his native 
land, before he reached the spot where God said, "This 
is the land; it shall be thine for an inheritance for 
thy seed after thee." Another example is given in the 
fact that Abraham, by faith, lived in tents with Isaac and 
Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promises, 1)ecause 
he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder 
and maker is God. The Sodomites had built a city. 
Melchizedek, the high priest of God, was living in the 
city of Salem, close by. The Shechemites and others 
round about, had cities; and His friends, the Hittites, 
were living in the City of Hebron. He was a man of 
great wealth, and he could have built a palace in which to 
live, but he chose to live in a tent all his life. He was 
seventy-five years old when he left his native land, and 
one-hundred and seventy-five when he died ; and through 
a round hundred years, he lived m a tent, by faith, be- 
cause yonder was the city he w^as looking for, that had 
foundations sure enough, whose builder and maker is 
God, and he was so well pleased and satisfied with that, 
that he did not want anything better than a tent to live in 



88 SERMON VII. 

here on earth. Sometimes I have thought that this was a 
greater evidence of Abraham's faith than offering Isaac 
on the altar. It was a long strain, that one hmicloed years 
living in a tent and looking for that distant city. Con- 
viction as to that unseen city which Grod hath built; con- 
fident expectation that after a long, weary journey, his 
life over, he would live in it with his children after him 
— this was his faith. How clearly and beautifully then, 
the examples that the apostle gives, come up to and fill 
out every point in his definition, conviction as to things 
not seen, confidence as to things hoped for. 

Now, what is the true object of faith? I endeavored 
to set that before the audience this morning. To men- 
tion it is enough for an audience like this. That great 
doctrine or fact on which the Church of Jesus Christ is 
built, the solid rock underlying it is this: "Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of the living God." To you and me here 
is expressed an unseen fact ; for Jesus is now up yonder 
in Heaven sitting on the right hand of God, the head of 
the Church, and head over all things for the Church, rul- 
ing all things in heaven and earth and under the earth, 
for the benefit of the Church, unseen, but glorious ! Our 
faith is conviction in regard to that unseen being, and 
that wondrous sacrifice he made for us, and the past of 
his wondrous history. All unseen. At the same time, on 
llim rest all our hopes. Our confidence in Him, in the 
things that He has promised, the things we hope for, is 
the animating power of our life. Faith in Jesus Christ 
then, is conviction as to things not seen, confidence as to 
things hoped for. 

It would be useless for me to go on further in trying 
to show what faith is. How is this faith begotten within 
a man? and then, after it is once begotten, bow is it 
strengthened and deepened and enjoyed, until it becomes 



FAITH. 89 

an absorbing and controlling power? These same exam- 
ples give us the answer to these questions. 

First, our faith that the worlds were created by the 
word of God : whence did w^e obtain it ? Not by reason- 
ing about it ; not by dreaming ; not in answer to prayer : 
but we read, when we were little boys and girls, in chapter 
I, verse 1, of God's holy word, "In the beginning God 
created the heavens and the earth." We obtained it from 
God's word. 

Whence did Abel obtain his conviction and confidence 
that led him to offer that lamb at the altar? We have 
very little information about that, but we know from the 
very nature of the case that he did not get it from any- 
human source. It did not spring up from his own rea- 
soning. No mortal man could have conceived from the 
results of his own ratiocination, that to slay a little inno- 
cent lamb and burn its flesh and sprinkle its blood, would 
procure a blessing upon him from the God of heaven. 
He must have obtained it from revelation. From some 
word that the Almighty had communicated in some way 
to his father, or his mother, or himself, or his brother, or 
the whole family together, which is left out of the short 
records of Genesis. He obtained it from the word of God, 
communicated to him in some way. 

Pass on to the next, and how did Enoch obtain his 
conviction in regard to the unseen God, and his confident 
expectation that God w^ould reward him if he served 
him? It must have come in the same way. The brief 
records in the first chapters of Genesis fail to tell us the 
details. 

Pass on to the next one, when revelation is getting 
a little fuller, and how did Noah obtain his conviction 
that a flood was coming upon the world, and his hope of 
escape from it for himself and his family? If he had 



90 SERMON \-II. 

reached that conviction by his own reason, it would have 
been a very daring and presumptuous thing for him to 
have said, "Oh, well, all the world will perish, but I and 
my family will be saved." He could not have reached 
this hope from the workings of his own mind. God said 
to him, "The end of all flesh is before me. I repent that 
I have made man; it grieves my heart. I will bring a 
flood upon the world, and destroy every living thing that 
hath the breath of life. But build thou an ark, put into 
it thyself and thy family, and two of every kind of the 
animals that have the breath of life, and save them." 
From the word of God he obtained the conviction and the 
confidence. 

How did Abraham obtain his conviction about the 
land when he did not know where it was ? God said to 
him, come into a land which I \Ndll show thee, and I 
will make of thee a great nation, I will give it to thee for 
an inheritance. From the word of God. And how did 
he obtain that idea, that conviction, that strong, life-con- 
trolling confidence about the city in the eternal world, 
whose builder and maker is God, in which he should live 
when he was done with this ? Here again the records are 
silent as to who told him. But we know very well that 
no human being ever had this clear conception of the 
eternal world, except by revelation. So it must have 
come to Abraham by some revelation of God's word which 
is omitted in the hasty and brief record of the Book of 
Genesis. But then you say, can it be possible that our 
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is begotten in the same 
way ? Well, just look into the workings of your own mind, 
and ask yourself how did it originate in your mind — the 
conviction that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living 
God ? And every one of you must answer, I obtained it 
from God's word. But for that word, I would not have it. 



FAITH. 91 

Go into the heathen nations of the earth, and no man 
has ever been found, or ever will be, who has this con- 
viction in him, except from the word of God. 

But then, how did we obtain our confidence in Him ? 
That confident expectation of His blessing that brings us 
to Him in simple service and gratitude and love ? How 
did we obtain that ? Is the word of God able to create 
this feeling in the human soul ? Well, it is very strange to 
me that such a question should ever be asked — whether 
the word of the Great God, the loving Father of heaven 
and earth, whose very nature is truth, can inspire us with 
confidence in His promises. Why, my friends, if God's 
word will not do it, what power is there in heaven or 
earth that you can conceive of, that could ? We obtain it 
all, from the word of the Lord ; and let me tell you, that 
the more you study that word, the more you know of i't, 
the more of it you get laid away in your memory and 
embalmed in your heart, the stronger your faith wall be- 
come — the better men of faith and women of faith you will 
be, to stand up against the storms of unbelief that rage 
around us in this wicked world. That is plain enough. 

Now in conclusion, how does faith bring us these bless- 
ings, the salvation of our souls in deliverance from sin, 
and life everlasting ? 

It looks a little strange, perhaps, to ask this question ; 
but it is a practical one. Does faith bring us all those 
great blessings by simply existing within us, or by what it 
leads us to do and feel ? The examples answer this ques- 
tion also. Was it by faith alone that Abel received the 
blessing which his sacrifice brought to him ? Would he 
have received that blessing, if he had believed with all 
his heart everything he did believe, and never offered his 
lamb ? You must see, it was because by faith Able offer- 
ed a sacrifice, and an excellent sacrifice, that he had tes- 
timony borne to him that he was righteous. 



92 ■ SERMON VII. 

How did Enoch receive the blessing of translation 
through faith ? By faith only existing in his soul ? Why, 
the language is that Enoch '' walked ^^ with God. He 
was ^^icell ])leasi)ig'' to God. It is the way his faith 
made him walk, that resulted in his translation. 

Passing on to >Joah, how is it that by faith he built 
the ark ? By faith only ? No, he had to go and cut the 
trees down, let the wood season, and hire a great many 
carpenters and ship builders at great expense. He mast 
have been a very rich man to be able to build that ark. 
There was a long period of years of constant labor and 
toil. It is by what his faith made him do, in the way of 
sacrifice of his money and of his time, his labor and his 
energy, that he saved his house. 

And so with Abraham : not by believing God and 
sitting down at home and remaining there among his 
friends, and thinking that in some distant day God 
would work it out that the promised land would be an 
inheritance for his children. No; but when he was called, 
he obeyed and went, not knowing whither he was going, 
and traveled thirteen hundred miles to find out where the 
land was. It was by what it made him do. And so it was 
in regard to the blessing that came upon him for living 
in tents a hundred years, looking for the city whose 
builder and maker is God. That blessing came from the 
one hundred years of living with his wife Sarah, and his 
children, and his grandchildren, and all the three hun- 
dred and eighteen men servants, besides their women 
and children, in tents, in the rainy weather, in the hot 
weather, in the cold weather ; in tents over one hundred 
years. His faith secured the blessing by what it made 
him do, and if he had not done what it prompted him to 
do, he would have failed. 

Now about our faith. How is it going to bring us to 



FAITH. 93 

the forgiveness of our sins, to the salvation of our souls 
from all the sins of the past, and finally bring us through 
our journey to everlasting life ? Not by causing us to 
offer a lamb as Abel did ; not by causing us to build an 
ark as Noah did ; not by causing us to go on a long dis- 
tant journey to a far distant land, as did Abraham ; nor 
even by causing us to live in tents as he did. How then ? 
By causing us to act on the same principles as they did. 
Every one of these acted in harmony with the object of his 
faith. Abel, in harmony with the object of his faith, offered 
a bloody victim on the altar. Enoch, in harmony with 
his, walked with God. Noah, in harmony wdth his, built 
an ark ; Abraham, in harmony with his, went on a distant 
journey. So, if our faith is to save us, our faith in Christ, 
it will be by causing us to act in harmony with that faith. 
Well, what is that ? If He is Christ, the Son of the living 
God, ruling over heaven and earth, and we beheve that, 
and act in harmony with it, we immediately surrender 
our souls and bodies and all that we have and are, to 
His divine guidance and control. Do we believe in Him 
as having laid down His life to redeem us from sin, and 
make it possible for God to forgive us ? Do we believe 
that? Then, to act in harmony with that, is to love 
Him, and to show by every day's walk in life that Ave are 
grateful to our Redeemer. And thus our faith will cause 
us to live a life of love, of devotion, of service, to Him 
who is our Redeemer, our Saviour, our Friend. And if 
that faith dwells in any man's soul, and he is not living 
thus, he feels every day that there is an antagonism 
between his faith and his life. Every believer in this 
audience to-night, who has not commenced living such a 
life as that, feels that antagonism now ; and it has given 
him great pain in days past. So then, not only are we 
to act in harmony with our faith, if we would receive 



94 SERMON VII. 

God's blessing, but that faith moves us to act that way. 
It impels us in that direction. When a man has to resist 
it and fight against it, he is not merely indifferent to his 
own best feelings, but he tramples them under his feet ; 
and so he must continue to do, if he does not yield to 
the power of that faith and cast himself into the service 
of the Lord. I speak what you know by your inward 
experience. 

I said awhile ago, that we do not have to do as the 
men of our text did, in carrying out our faith ; and yet, 
we come very near it. We are not called upon to bring 
a lamb to the altar, and lay our hands upon its head, and 
shed its blood, and burn its flesh, but in the language of 
one of our beautiful hymns, if we would obtain the for- 
giveness of sins and the blessing of God, we are to come 
up and say: 

" By faith I lay my hand 

On that dear head of thine; 

While like a penitent I stand 

And there confess my sin." 

And are we not to act, after having thus confessed that 
sin, as Enoch did — walk with God the remnant of our 
days? And, although God wall not take us away in the 
body, for the body lies down in the grave, He sends 
angels to bear us into that strange land, and on that 
strange journey that we are to take. And are we not to 
act very much as Abraham did, when he was called ? My 
brethren, you have started for a promised land. Do you 
know where it is ? Can you point in the direction of it ? 
You sometimes point up. But we all learn that this is a 
childish conception, when we have studied astronomy. 
Do you know where that country is, to which you are 
going ? Do you know how far it is away ? Oh ! how true 
it is that when we were called, we obeyed and started out, 



FAITH. 95 

not knowing whither we were going — knowing only that 
God has said, " It is a goodly land, and I will give it to 
you." How much like Abraham. 

And then om' faith is still fixed, as Abraham's was, 
on that city. We are told more about it than he was. He 
learned that it had foundations, and it is revealed to us 
as having foundations of precious stones — all the beau- 
tiful gems of this earth are built together in the founda- 
tions of that city, to give us an idea of its glory. It has 
gates of pearl, and inside of it everything that we can 
conceive of that is grand and glorious and beautiful ; and 
not a man to enter it who tells a lie, or loves a lie or any 
mean thing. No sin ; no sorrow ; no tears ; no grave-yards 
in it. We are living here as Abraham did, not exactly in 
tents, but oh, hoW' frail our dwellings are ! How quickly 
the fire makes them vanish, and the earthquake ! In a 
little while strangers will dwell in the house where you 
live, strange children wdll be playing about the door 
where your children played. Everything is transient, like 
the Arab's tent that is moved every morning ; but oh ! 
we have our hearts fixed on the city w^hich God has built, 
in the land that we know nothing of except wiiat God 
has told us about it, and by faith in the unseen reality, 
and confidence as to the hoped for enjoyment of it, we 
are maldng our journey home. 

But, to be more specific in regard to the start. As we 
endeavored to show this morning, when a man has this 
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he is called upon to 
abandon a sinful life ; to repudiate it out of the depth 
of his soul ; to resolve that, by the strength of my will, 
helped by God to make it stronger, I will sin no more. 
That is repentance. Then, in imitation of that sad and 
gloomy and mournful hour, when He died, was buried 
and rose on the third morning, we are to be buried with 



96 SERMON VII. 

the Lord in baptism. And as He rose out of that grave 
to hve a new and different hfe, so we arise from that 
watery burial to Hve a new hfe, to wahi \\'ith God, hnng 
in tents with Abraham. 

Is there a penitent soul here to-night who has never 
started on this heavenly journey? Has it no attractions 
for you? Will you not flee from the darkness, the 
gloom and the horror, that have shrouded your soul 
whenever you have thought of God and death and eter- 
nity, and seize the precious hope, the strong confiding 
hope of the man of faith, and the woman of faith ? If it 
is in your heart to do this, we give you the opportunity 
and beg you to come. 



SERMON VIII. 



EEPENTANCE. 



MoKNiNG July 2, 1893. 



I will read in the seventeenth chapter of Acts of Apos- 
tles, two verses in Paul's celebrated speech on Mars' 
Hill, addressed to heathen philosophers: 

"The times of iguorance therefore God overlooked; 
but now he commandeth. meu that they should all every- 
where repent: inasniuch as he hath appointed a day, in 
which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man 
whom he hath ordained ; whereof he hath given assurance 
unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." 

The greatest obstacle to the salvation of men is the 
obstinacy of the human will. It is not very difficult, in 
this country particularly, to induce men to believe the 
Gospel — to plant faith within the soul. Indeed, we may 
say it is difficult in our blessed land for a man to be an 
unbeliever. Multitudes of men try to be, and fail; and 
some women do the same. And even when they think 
that they have succeeded in persuading themselves that 
there is no truth in the Gospel or in the Bible, often, 
when they come to face death, their unbelief vanishes, 
and they find themselves among the number who believe 
and tremble. Neither is it very difficult to persuade 
men to be baptized, Avhen they become penitent believers. 
I have never yet met with a person, who was a genuine 
believer and sincerely penitent, that raised any question 
about being baptized. They are ready to go where they 

are led. 

7 97 



98 SERMON vni. 

The difficulty is to induce them to repent. I have 
often, in my preaching experience, studied and prayed 
and redected and read, to find some way by which I 
could have more power in inducing people to repent. 1 
would rather .have that power than all the other powers 
and gifts that could be bestowed upon me as a preacher. 
But we modern preachers need not be discom-aged, I 
think, on account of cm- weakness here, because we find, 
on reading the Gospels, that our Saviour experienced the 
same difficulty. WTien He was bidding farewell, or about 
to bid fareweU, to Gallilee, where the most of His mighty 
works were done, and upbraided the cities whose people 
had heai'd Him most, it was not because they did not 
beheve ; it was not because they refused to be baptized 
by John ; but it was because they did not repent. With 
all the tremendous efforts that He had put forth to bring 
them to repentance. He had failed. Not sm-prising, then, 
that there should be foimd the same difficulty in the way 
of modern preachers. Seeing that it is difficult to bring 
men to repentance, and yet that without repentance there 
is no salvation for the human soul, how important a 
matter it is to know all about repentance that we can 
learn; to know, in the fii-st place, what repentance is, so 
that we may not be mistaken about that ; and to know, 
in the second place, how repentance is brought about. 
I propose to devote the time that I shall address you this 
morning to these two inquiiies. 

I tlunk if I were to ask you individually, What is 
repentance, I would probably get, fi'om the large ma- 
jority, the answer that it is godly sorrow for sin. That 
would be a very imperfect definition. There is no repent- 
ance without sorrow for sia, and I presume to say that 
it is utterly impossible for any man to sorrow for them 
too deeply. But that is not the exact thing that in the 



REPENTANCE. 99 

Bible is called repentance. We know this from a single 
statement, to go no further, of the Apostle Paul, when, 
addressing certain men in the Church of Corinth, he said : 
"Though I made you sorry with my epistle, I do not regret 
it, though I did regret ; for I see that the epistle made 
you sorry after a godly sort; for godly sorrow worketh 
repentance unto salvation not to be regretted." He had 
awakened a very keen sorrow in their hearts. He pitied 
them when he learned how deeply distressed they were ; 
but when he learned that this godly sorrow worked re- 
pentance, then he was glad that he had made them 
sorry ; and this remark shows that repentance is a result 
of godly sorrow, not that sorrow itself. This fact being 
discovered, some scholars have concluded that repent- 
ance is reformation of life. But this is another mis- 
take. Of course, every man who sincerely repents, 
reforms his life. But we learn from John the Baptist 
that reformation of life, instead of being repentance, is 
the fruit of repentance. He said to the people who 
came to be baptized by him, and were not sincere in 
the matter, being Pharisees and Sadducees, "Bring forth 
fruits worthy of repentance ; " and some of the people 
said, "Master, what shall we do then?" "Why, you that 
have two coats, give to him that hath none ; you that 
have food, do likewise." Be liberal and kind. The pub- 
licans said, "Master, what shall we do?" — that is, to 
bring forth these fruits that you require. "Exact no more 
than is appointed you." They were in the habit of 
exacting more and putting the surplus in their pockets. 
Quit your wicked conduct. The soldiers say, "What shall 
we do?" "Do violence to no man, and be content with 
your wages." And thus in calling on them to bring forth 
fruits worthy of repentance, he explained that he meant 
better conduct — a change, or reformation, in their lives. 



100 ser:\ion yiii. 

So then, a change of hfe for the better is a result, or an 
effect, of repentance. It is not repentance itself. Repent- 
ance, then, is something that stands in between sorrow 
for sin and the change of the life in which sins are aban- 
doned and a better course of conduct begun. Well, then, 
is it '? Not to multiply words, you will agree with me 
when I state that it is a change of that stubborn will 
which is the seat of all rebellion and all sin against 
God. When a man is so thorouglily filled with sorrow 
and mourning and self-reproach on account of his sins 
that his will is subdued to the will of God, and he says, 
I will sin no more, I wiU hereafter submit to the will of 
my God, this results in a change of his life, and it is 
repentance — a change of will in regard to sin. 

Now^ how is this change of will to be brought about ? 
It is so difficult of accomplishment that many have 
imagined it to be a product of the direct power of God 
acting within the soul. I have wondered how such 
persons could reconcile their theory with the fact that 
only a small number of us repent. Why does not God, 
if He employs His Almighty power to inspire the soul 
with repentance, exert that power upon all the wicked, 
and stop all sin at once ? I am sure He would if that 
were His way of bringing men to repentance. 

It was said by the apostles and their brethren assem- 
bled together at Jerusalem, that repentance is a gift of 
God ; for when they heard of the turnmg of Cornelius 
and his family, and their baptism, they praised God and 
said, "Then hath God given to the Gentiles repentance 
unto life." In some proper sense of the word, then, it is 
true that repentance is a gift from God to the man who 
repents; and yet repentance is a duty that is enjoined 
upon men in the form of a command. "Eepent," was the 
cry of John the Baptist, of Jesus, and of all the apostles. 



REPENTANCE. 101 

It is something that the man himself mast do. Now it is 
not easy always to explain how a thing may be a gift 
from God, and yet be something that we ourselves are 
to do; but this will be made clear as we proceed. 

Let me press the inquiry, then, in the hght of the 
word of God, How are men brought to repentance? 
How is that stubborn will broken down, so that a man 
who was once in rebellion against his God, is ready and 
willing to say, and does say, "Oh Lord, not my will, but 
Thine be done ?" The Saviour, in trying to bring men to 
repentance, as you saw in the speech addressed to Cho- 
ra zin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, which I read you at 
the beginning, pointed them to the judgment. He up- 
braided them for their want of repentance, and said: 
"Woe unto thee, Cliorazin; woe unto thee, Bethsaida ; 
for if the mighty works which were done in you had been 
done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long 
ago in sackcloth and ashes, but it shall be more tolerable 
for Tyre and Sidon, in the day of judgment than for you." 
And so he said to Capernaum. He appealed then to 
the terrors of the judgment in order to induce these men 
to repent. There was a preacher of repentance who lived 
a long time before the Saviour, and was led by the Spirit 
of God. When Jonah went into the great city of Nineveh to 
preach to them, and brought the whole city to re])entance 
in sackcloth and ashes, what was the means by which he 
did it? "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be over- 
thrown." The terrors of the just judgment of God upon 
them for their. iniquity, he employed, and it had the de- 
sired effect. And when Paul stood here among these 
philosophers on Mars' Hill in Athens, and addressed to 
them this matchless speech in regard to the true and 
living God, he called on them to repent. He says, in the 
language which I read to you, "God hath now command- 



102 SERMON VIII. 

ed men that they should all, everywhere, repent ;" and what 
motive did he lay before them to induce them to do it ? 
"For he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the 
world in righteousness." If God is going to judge in 
righteousness, every unrighteous man will be condemned, 
and only those who are righteous will be saved. 

Now then, if we will be guided by those who were 
moved by the Spirit of infinite wisdom in their efforts to 
bring men to repentance, even our Saviour inc hided, one 
way to do it, is to tell them of the fearful consequences of 
continuing m sin. Is that calculated to have the effect *? 
All we have to do in answer to this question is to look 
within our own souls. I would ask any impenitent sinner 
here this morning: Did you ever in your life sit down 
calmly and thoughtfully to consider the consequences 
of your sinful life — the consequences upon your conscience 
and 3'our heart while you live ; the terror that it will force 
upon you in the hour of death; the judgment, and all 
that is revealed in the Bible as to the fate of the impeni- 
tent sinner, without feeling that stubborn Avill of yours 
beginning to bend? I do not believe you ever did. I 
did not when I was hving in sin, and I don't believe that 
any Christian here ever did. Well why didn't that will of 
yours bow completely down in subjection to the will of God 
when you indulged in these reflections ? Oh I you shook 
them off. You got up and ran away. You closed the 
book. You resorted to something that would dissipate 
those thoughts. You shook off the power that God was 
exercising o^er your sou], and which would have brought 
you to repentance, if you had only continued to reflect 
a little longer. That is proof enough that there is power 
in this great motive to bring men to repentance, if only 
they can be mduced to reflect upon it sufflciently. 

Another source is pointed out by the Apostle Paul 



REPENTANCE. 103 

when lie rebuked certain men for treasuring up unto 
themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revel- 
ation of the righteous judgment of God, because they 
were despising the goodness of God ; because they were 
despising the goodness and long suffering and forbear- 
ance of God, not knowiug that the goodness of God 
leads men to repentance (Eom. ii, 4, 5.) Here is an- 
other motive to repentance, the goodness of God. Did 
ever a sinner who knows God, who is acquainted, in 
even a general way, with the revelations of the New Tes- 
tament, sit down and reflect upon the kindness of the 
God who created him ; upon all the tender mercies that 
God has showered upon him since his earliest recollec- 
tion; upon the fact that God has provided a way for his 
salvation ; that He is bidding him every day to turn away 
from his sins and come to peace and rest in Christ ; that 
He is opening the gates of eternity, an eternity of glory 
and bliss and honor — did one ever thus reflect without 
despising himself for being a sinner? Without wishing 
that he were not a sinner, and resolving that he will 
abandon his sins ? And why didn't you then and there 
repent ? For the same reason as in the other case. If 
you were reading the Bible at the time, you shut it up and 
turned to a newspaper or something else. If it were a 
sermon to which you were listening that made you feel 
that way, you got away from the church as soon as you 
could into other associations. You resorted to means by 
which you could shake off from your soul the spell that 
God was working upon it ; and that is the reason you did 
not repent. And if you continue to deal with the judgment 
of God, and with the goodness of God, in this way, the 
result will be that you will forever shake off their power, 
and you will find it easier and easier to do so as life goes 
on. You will go to perdition. You are pursuing the very 
course that is calculated to take you to hell. 



104 SERMOX VIII. 

The goodness of God on the one hand, and the awful 
judgment of God against impenitent sinners on the other 
hand — these are two mighty motives to bring men to 
repentance. 

We are able now to see how repentance is a gift from 
God. How^ did you and I find out the awful consequences 
of sin ■? How did we leani about the goodness of God ? 
The heathen, the uncircumcised heathen, in the days of 
the apostles, could not repent, because God had never 
yet sent to them the message of his hatred of sin and his 
goodness and mercy toward the sinner. But, in sending 
them the Gospel God gave them the power, and the 
opportunity, and the privilege of repenting, as he gives us 
our food by sending the sunshine and the shower. 

Some people imagine that there ought to be, some- 
how or other3 something from God, something in addit- 
ion to all this: seeing that men resist this, that God ought 
to do something more. The rich man in hades thought 
so. "When he found that there was no possible hope for 
himself, not even so much as one drop of water to cool his 
parched tongue, he said, Father Abraham, send Laza- 
rus to my father's house. I have five brothers there ; oh 
send him to warn them that they come not to this phice 
of torment. Calmly the voice of the patriarch comes 
down to him: "They have Moses and the prophets; let 
them hear them." This man thought that this was not 
enough. Xo, Father Abraham, but if some one ^i\\ go to 
them from the dead, they will repent. Let Lazarus go 
and tell them where I am, what I am suffering, what I 
have begged for and cannot obtain. They will not come to 
this place of torment when they hear that. That is what 
he thought. But the voice comes to him, "If they hear 
not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuad- 
ed if one should rise from the dead." That is, if Laza- 



KEPENTANCE. 105 

rus should go back into his body, stand as he once was, a 
living man, and tell those five brothers all that he knew 
of their departed brother, they won Id not repent. I am 
afraid there are some who even now do not believe this — 
who think that those men certainly would have repented 
if Lazarus had gone as requested. But I think that 
Abraham was right, or rather, that Jesus, who quotes 
these words, was right. Suppose Lazarus had gone back. 
How do you think his message would have been received 
by those brothers ? What would he have to tell them ? 
When I died, and your brother died, and angels carried 
me away off into Abraham's bosom, I saw your brother, 
and I heard him cry. He called to me to dip my finger 
tip in water to cool his tongue ; for he said, "I am torment- 
ed in these flames." I could not go to him, so he asked 
me to come back and tell you not to come to that place of 
torment, but to change your lives. What do you suppose 
those brothers would have said? Well, Lazarus, who 
are you ? You were nothing but a poor diseased beggar, 
companion for dogs, when you lived here ; had no friends. 
Our brother was a rich man who fared sumptuously 
every day, and was clothed in purple and fine linen, and 
everybody was his friend. You tell us that our brother 
whom we loved so well, who was so good and tender and 
noble — that he is in the torments of hell ? We don't be- 
lieve a word of it. My brethren, you will not find many 
men to-day who are willing to believe thit that good, nice, 
honorable fellow who died recently, is in hell. It is not 
considered polite to express the opinion that anybody has 
gone to hell. And who will believe that his brother is in 
hell? I suppose it would have been a vain mission on the 
part of Lazarus. So then, we are shut up to it, if a man 
does not repent under the power that God exerts upon 
him through the revelation he has made of his righteous 



106 SERMON YIII. 

wrath against sin, the punislnnent with which he will visiv 
it, there is no power in heaven, earth, or hell, that can 
bring him to repentance. He is to be a hopeless outcast 
forever. 

I have heard the question raised among a certain 
class (I am glad it is a diminishing class) as to how long 
a man ought to repent before he is prepared for baptism, 
and for union with the church. That question betrays 
another mistake on the whole subject of repentance. How 
long must a man repent? It really means, how long 
must a man be sorry for his sins? The mistaken idea 
that sorrow for sin is repentance is involved in that ques- 
tion. Still it is a legitimate question, How long shall a 
man be sorry for his sins, and mourn over them, before 
he is ready to take the stand that he ought to take in 
obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ ? I do not know any 
way ti answer this question except by facts brought to 
light in the Scriptures. Among all the persons whose 
conversions are recorded in the New Testament, there is 
only one who continued in sorrow and mourning before he 
was bapti/.ed as long as three days. That was the Apos- 
tle Paul. The Philippian jailor, who had been a great 
sinner and a heathen, was baptized the same hour in 
which he first heard the Gospel preached. You may take 
these two cases as the extremes. But then, when you 
come to look into that three days' mourning of Saul of 
Tarsus, you lind that the reason why he continued so long 
in sorrow was because no one had yet come to tell him 
what to do. As soon as Ananias, sent by the Lord, come in 
and found him in that condition, he said : ''Brother Saul, 
why dost thou tarry? Arise and be baptized and wash 
away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord:" and he 
obeyed at once. If Ananias had come two days earlier, 
would not his command ;nid S nil's action have been the 
same? 



REPENTANCE. 107 

How long shall a man sorrow for his sins before he 
repents? Why, the answer is, I think, just as long as 
he has to sorrow before he is willing to give up his sins ; 
and that may be a longtime, or a short time. It ought 
to be but a very short time. As soon as a man is con- 
vinced that he is a sinner against God, he ought that very 
hour to be sorry, and sorry enough to abandon his sins, 
and to resolve that he will never sin again, God helping 
him. Whenever you have gotten to the point that your 
will is subdued, you have sorrowed long enough ; and when 
you have reached that point, you have sorrowed intensely 
enough. So that all of this conception of long continued 
sorrow and mourning and anguish, causing sleep to de- 
part, causing troubled dreams to visit you in the night 
— all this results from the fact that the will is so stub- 
born that it takes hours and weeks of anguish to break it 
down — to make the guiliy, stubborn rebel, willing to sub- 
mit to his God. God takes no delight in the tears, in the 
pains, in the agonies of the human heart. He takes de- 
light in quick and willing obedience ; and all he wants any 
man to do is to come to him in willing obedience. ''Come 
unto me all ye that labor and are heavily laden, and I will 
give you rest." That is the sweet and heavenly invitation 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

I think, my friends, that this city, and this State, and 
this country of ours, are the worst places on this broad 
earth from which to go to hell. Jesus said to those peo- 
ple around him, believers in God, and men who thought 
themselves religious, "It shall be more tolerable for Sodom 
in the day of judgment, than for you." Why? Because, if 
that which has been done in your midst had been done in 
Sodom, it would have lived ; and therefore the men of 
Sodom shall rise up in the day of judgment and condemn 
you, showing that yoa are worse than they and must be 
punished more severely. He said to another audience on 



108 SERMON VIII. 

another occasion, "Tlie men of Nineveh shall rise up in 
the judgment witK this generation, and condemn it ; for 
they repented at the preaching of Jonah, but a greater 
than Jonah is here." They repented under the preach- 
ing of a prophet. These men refused to repent under 
the preaching of the Son of God. They repented under 
the preaching of a prophet who ran away from his God 
and was caught and sent back. These men refused to 
repent under the Son of God who had never violated his 
Father's will. And oh ! how much severer condemna- 
tion awaited them ! iiow is it with you and me on this 
line of comparison? If we do not repent, we can be said 
to be impenitent under the preaching, not merely of the 
Son of God who never disobeyed his Father, but of 
that Son of God laid in the grave, alive from the dead, 
ascending up into heaven, sitting down on the right hand 
of God, and speaking from the eternal throne, saying, Re- 
pent that you may live. This voice rings in our ears from 
Lord's day to Lord's day, and all through the week. The 
silent voice of that closed Bible on the stand is ever 
ringing in our ears, and still we do not repent. If then, 
it shall be more tolerable for Sodom than for Capernaum 
in the day of judgment, oh, how will it fare with you 
and me if we die without repentance ? 

Will you die that way ? You will if you live that way. 
Will you repent this morning ? Will you say to the God 
who made you, to the Saviour who redeemed you and who 
invites you to come to him, Lord, I come ; I yield. Thy 
goodness, thy mercy, thy love, have subdued my stubborn 
will ; I will cast my sins behind me ; I will live hereafter 
for my God and my Redeemer. If so, then you are a 
penitent sinner. Will you come with that penitence imd 
cast yourself upon the Saviour's mercy who is ready to re- 
ceive you ? While we sing, we beg you in Jesus' name to 
come. 



SEKMON IX, 



BAPTISM. 



Evening July 2, 1893. 



Since it has been announced that my subject to-night 
would be Baptism, I think it highly probable that the 
question has arisen in tlie minds of some, Why another 
sermon on that old hacknied theme ? Perhaps the ob- 
jection has arisen that this subject has been discussed 
and debated for hundreds of years, and it has never yet 
been settled. Why then continue to disturb the minds 
of the people with it ? This objection involves a serious 
mistake. The question, it is true, has not in one sense 
been settled, that is, all the people have not been brought 
to an agreement in regard to it ; but in another and a very 
important sense, it has been settled thousands and thous- 
ands of times ; that is, it has been settled in the minds of men 
and women who have to give an account to God in the great 
day, and they have acted according to the settlement of it 
in their own minds. And let me say to you who are here 
to-night, it is a necessity laid on you, you can not avoid 
it, that you shall also settle the question in your own 
mind and for your own soul. You can not go into any 
church on earth except that of the Quakers, without be- 
ing baptized — that is, without submitting to an ordi- 
nance which the church calls baptism. And if you are 
ever to become a member of any church, with the excep- 
tion of the one named, before you do so you are compelled 
to decide in your own mind what baptism is, and that 

109 



110 SERMON IX. 

will be settling the question so far as you are concerned. 
If you answer me, No, sir, tlie question was settled for me 
by my parents when I was an infant, and they baptized 
me, even this does not enable you to escape the necessity 
of which I speak ; for you are compelled to decide for 
yourself before God, whether you will be satisfied with 
that as youi' obedience to this divine command. So then, 
to come to some practical decision of this disputed theme, 
is a necessity laid upon everj^ one of you, and you will 
all give an account thereof to God in the day of judgment. 
Don't be impatient then when a man proposes to discuss 
the subject in your presence. Don't be unwilling to hear 
him. Whatever may be the position he takes, whichever 
side of the controverted question he stands on, don't be 
unwilling to hear all that he says, and to hear it candidly 
to weight it fairly, so that you may decide the question 
intelligently. 

But a man says, "According to my understanding of 
this controversy, it requires some knowledge of the dead 
languages, and especially of the Greek, in order to render 
an intelligent decision as to what baptism is ; and as I 
am no scholar, I think God will not hold me to an account 
if I should happen to decide it incorrectly." Well, that is a 
mistake. It is a mistake to suppose that it requires schol- 
arship in any dead language to determine what baptism 
is. And I am inchued to believe — I do believe, that every 
man who has ordinary common sense can take his own 
English Testament, and learn from the careful study of 
it, what God requires of him in order that he may live a 
life well pleasing in the sight of his Maker. I do not 
think you will find a Protestant preacher in the United 
States who will call that proposition in question. 

What then is a man to do who does not understand 
Greek, who is a plain English scholar, and no more ? I 



BAPTISM. Ill 

once heard (a good many years ago), a man of very plain 
common sense, with no scholarship, not even an accm-ate 
English education, make this remark: "If my mind 
were unsettled in regard to baptism, I would take this 
course : — I would take my own New Testament, and, be- 
ginning at the first chapter of Matthew, T would read it 
all the way through, watching for that word 'baptism' ; 
and everywhere I found it, I would examine carefully the 
passage in which I. found it, and learn all I could about 
it ; and when I got through I would put all of this to- 
gether, and I would make up my mind on the whole sub- 
ject of baptism that way. Then I would feel sure that it 
was God teaching me, and that he would approve my de- 
cision." The remark struck me with great force, and I 
have from that day to this been of the opinion that it is 
the best way by which any man can proceed to settle this 
much controverted question. It does not involve a single 
word in any language but our own. It does not involve 
arguments and disputations on the subject from other men. 
It involves nothing but listening to the utterances of God's 
word as you have it in your own vernacular, forming your 
own conclusions, and then taking up your line of action. 
Now, if that is not safe, I don't know what is. You 
may imagine it a very big task to read the book through 
and through, but there is not mu^h more reading 
matter in it than there is in to-day's Courier-Jour- 
nal. I don't think there is as much. When I tell you 
that I propose to lead you through that kind of an exam- 
ination of the subject to-night, don't think I am going to 
keep you here till midnight. To save us the time that 
would otherwise be involved, I have already gone through 
my little Testament, and turned down leaves and marked 
with my pencil the passages, so we will not have to hunt 
for them very much. I now propose that every one of 



1 12 SERMON IX. 

you who has a Bible in hand, or can lind one in your pew, 
will join me in this plain, simple, child-like search for 
God's utterances on this important theme. 

We will open at the beginning of the Book, but ])e- 
fore beginning to read, let us have one other preparation 
of mind on the subject, which I think is necessary in 
order that we may reach the safest possible results ; and 
that is this: — If you want to investigate any question 
mthout bias of mind, it is a good thing to throw out of 
your mind by an effort of the imagination, all you know 
or ever have heard about it, and come to the investiga- 
tion as if the subject was absolutely a new one of which 
you had never heard a word in your life before. Come 
with your mind like a sheet of blank paper, ready for God 
to write on it whatever you find in His holy word. I pro- 
pose, then, that before we begin reading we shall each 
one imagine that we have never heard the word "bap- 
tism" pronounced in our lives. AVe are not aware that 
there is such a word in existence ; and when we come to it 
while reading we will not go to the dictionary, Greek or 
English, but we will pause upon it and see if the Book 
itself explains it to us ; and if so, we will have God's def- 
inition of it. 

Now we begin at the first chapter of Matthew, and 
after reading that long list of names, and that account of 
the birth of the Lord, and of his childhood, in the third 
chapter the writer introduces John the Baptist ; and in 
verses five and six we read thus: — "Then went out unto 
him Jerusalem and all Judea, and the region round 
about the Jordan, and they were baptized of him in the 
river Jordan, confessing their sins." Why, there is a 
word I never saw before ; I never heard of it. I won- 
der what it means — that these people were baptized by 
that man in the river Jordan. I would like to know what 
it means, but I believe I will let the New Testament itself 



BAPTISM. 113 

explain it to me, if it will. I do not know what was done 
to those people by John, but can I learn anything about 
it in this passage ? Yes, they were baptized in the river 
Jordan ; that tells where it was done, and it tells it so 
plainly that there can be no mistake about it. 

So let us read on and see if we can learn more. At 
the eleventh verse, the same John says to his audience, " I 
indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he 
that cometh after me is mightier than I; whose shoes I am 
not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy 
Spirit and with fire." Here is our strange word again, 
and this time John says "I baptize you with water." 
Well, there is another thing we learn about it — that water 
and not wine, or milk, or honey, or any other liquid, but 
water, is used in this ordinance. 

We read on in the same chapter, and at the thirteenth 
verse we have these words : '' Then cometh Jesus from 
Galilee to the Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. 
But John would have hindered him, saying, I have need 
to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" And 
Jesus said, " Suffer it now, John, for thus it becometh us 
to fulfill all righteousness." "Then he suffered him. And 
Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway from 
the water." Well, we see what he did when he was 
through with the baptizing — he ''went up straightway from 
the water." But that is all. It does not tell us what the 
baptizing was. As regards the act itself that is called 
baptizing, we are as much in the dark as we were before. 

From this whole chapter we learn only this — that 
when John baptized, it was in the river Jordan ; that he 
used (in some way, we don't know how) water; and that 
after Jesus was baptized he went up straightway from the 
water, showing that he had been down to it ; but that is 
all we learn, so we read on. 



114 sER:\roN IX. 

Our curiosity is awakened now, and chapter after chap- 
ter, leaf after leaf ^ye turn, and we do not find our word 
again in its literal sense, until we come to the last chapter 
of Matthew, eighteenth and nineteenth verses. "Jesus 
came to them and spake to them, saying, all authority 
hath heen given to me in heaven and on earth. Go ye, 
therefore, and make disciples of all the naticLs, baptizing 
them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Spirit ?" Here is our strange word again, and what 
do we learn about it here ? Why, that those men w^ere to 
baptize in all the nations. It was to be a universal thing. 
And they were to baptize them into the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Well, it is becom- 
ing interesting. ''Baptize them into the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit," is a very 
solemn thing, and it is to be universal as the nations of 
men. We wonder more than ever what it is. 

We are through with Matthew now. We will begin in 
Mark. We may have to read the whole New Testament 
through before we get our question answered. 

The fourth verse of the first chapter of Mark says : 
"John came, who baptized in the wilderness and preach- 
ed the baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins." 
Here is another place of baptizing. In Matthew we 
found that he baptized in the river Jordan. Here, we 
learn he baptized in the wilderness. That puzzles us a 
little, until we know the geography of Palestine — we re- 
member that a portion of the river Jordan, near its 
mouth, runs along a barren wilderness on its western 
bank. This then, teUs us in what part of the river Jor- 
dan John baptized. "And there went out to him," says the 
fifth verse, "all the country of Judea and all they of Jeru- 
salem, and they were baptized of him in the river Jordan, 
confessing theii* sins." Yes, we were right; it is in the 
"river Jordan" and in the wilderness at the same time. 



BAPTISM. 115 

At the eighth verse, John says to the people, "I bap- 
tize you with water;" but we knew that before. 

At the ninth verse : "It came to pass in those days that 
Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized 
of John in the Jordan, and straightway coming up out of 
the water he saw the heavens rent asunder, and the 
Spirit as a dove descending upon him." Well, we learn- 
ed from Matthew that he went up from the water, and 
now it says in Mark that he came up out of the w-ater. 
He had then been down in it. So Jesus was baptized in 
the river Jordan, and after he was baptized he went up 
out of the water. It looks as if the baptizing had been 
done in the water, but still we do not know what it was. 

We read on. W^e go all tlie way through Mark to the 
last chapter (the sixteenth) before we learn anything more 
about it. The fifteenth and sixteenth verses read : "And he 
said to them : Go ye into all the world and preach the gos- 
pel to the whole creation. He that believeth and is 
baptized shall be saved, but he that disbelieveth shall be 
condemned." Here is that same idea of its universality 
which we learned from Matthew; and here is an addit- 
ional thought connected with it, that ''he that believeth 
and is baptized shall be saved" ; and this adds interest to 
our inquiry. Still, no light is thrown upon the act itself; 
so we must patiently go on with our reading. 

In the third chapter of Luke we meet with our strange 
word again, third verse. Speaking of John, the text says : 
" He cometh to all the region round about Jordan, preach- 
ing the baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins." 
It was not only where the Jordan ran through the wilder- 
ness then, but in "all the region round about the Jordan" 
that John preached; and here we also learn that he 
preached the "baptism of repentance unto the remission 
of sins." If it was a baptism of repentance, a baptism 



J]() ser:mon Tx. 

whicli required a man to repent before lie submitted to it, 
and unto the remission of sins, it must have been a mat- 
ter of supreme importance. The subject grows upon us 
by the words used in connection with it, but no Hght 
comes 5'et as to what the particular act itself was. If we 
had started out, knowing the meaning of the word, we 
would not have had this trouble ; but we want the New 
Testament itself to show^ us its meaning, so we read on. 

We read through Luke and into John without addit- 
ional light ; but in the third chapter of John, twenty-second 
and twenty-third verses, we stumble on it once more. "Af- 
ter these things, Tesus came and his disciples unto the land 
of Judea ; and there he tarried with them and baptized." 
So we find from this that not only did John baptize, and 
not only did Jesus command his disciples to go into all 
nations and baptize, but that Jesus himself baptized 
at one time. "And John also was baptizing in JEuon 
near to Salem, because there was much water there, and 
they came and were baptized." Well, we learned in 
Matthew, and also in Mark, that John used water in bap- 
tizing. Now we learn that when he left the Jordan, he 
went to ^nou near to Salem, because there was much 
water there; and this shows that he wanted "much wa- 
ter" with whicli to baptize. But this is a very vague ex- 
pression. A pitcher-full is much compared with a glass- 
ful; a barrel-full is much compared with a pitcher- full; 
and a river is much compared with any of our vessels 
of water. So the text is extremely vague when it says 
"much water." We are learning very slowly as regards 
the act itself, but we must be patient when we are in 
search of the truth. 

We read on through John without any further satis- 
faction, and into the book of Acts ; and in the second chap- 
ter of that book and forty-first verse, we learn that " they 



EAPTis:\r. 117 

that received the words of Peter were haptized, and there 
were added unto them m that day about three thousand 
souls." In the thirty-eighth verse Peter says to them, "Ee- 
pent and be baptized every one of you in the name of 
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." And thus we learn 
that the apostles did as Jesus told them — went abroad to 
preach the gospel, and required men to be baptized. Peter, 
in telling them to be baptized says, "Be baptized unto the 
remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the 
Holy Spirit. " When we thus find that the gift of the 
Holy Spirit is connected with it, its importance grows 
upon us: still there is nothing here to tell us what 
baptism is. 

We read on. We come to the eighth chapter of Acts. 
We find there that Philip is preaching the gospel in Sa- 
maria, and "when they believed Philip preaching the 
things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of 
Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women," 
Nothing to explain the act itself. 

In the same chapter, farther on, Philip and the eunuch 
are riding in the chariot together, and Philip is preaching 
to the eunuch. At the thirty-sixth verse we read, "and 
as they went on their way, they came to a certain water." 
We have already learned that water was the element used. 
"And the eunacli said. Behold, here is water; what hm- 
dereth me to be baptized ? and he commanded the chariot 
to stand still, and they both went down into the water, 
both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him ; and 
when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of 
the Lord caught Philip away. " We learn additional 
items from this. W^e learn that before the baptizing, the 
baptist and the candidate both went down into the water; 
that while they were down in the water, the baptizing 
was done ; and that they then came up out of the water. 



118 



SERMON IX. 



"We have not found the answer to onr question yet, hut we 
are getting it hemmed in. John haptized in the river Jor- 
dan, and at .Enon where there was much water. Now we 
learn that in performing the act they went down into the 
water ; it was done while they were down there, and then 
they came up out of the water ; and this explains how 
Jesus came up out of the water when he was baptized : 
hut what Philip did to the eunuch called baptism ; what 
John did to Jesus called baptism — the question on which 
we started out, is not answered yet. 

When we get into the ninth of Acts, we find that Saul 
of Tarsus Avas baptized; but nothing is said about it to in- 
dicate what the act was ; and so in regard to Cornelius ; so 
in regard to Lydia ; so in regard to the Philippian jailor. 
The disciples are carrying out their commission to bap- 
tize men, but we find no words in these passages to indi- 
cate what the act was. 

We read into Romans, the first epistle in the order in 
which they are printed. In the sixth chapter, third and 
fourth verses, we rea d these words : "Are you ignorantthat 
all who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into 
his death ? " Ah ! there are two new thoughts. When men 
are baptized under Christ, they are baptized into Jesus 
Christ, and baptized into his death. The importance of 
the act still growls. The apostle proceeds : "We were buried 
therefore with him through baptism into death ; that like 
as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of 
the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life." 
What does the apostle say was done through baptism? 
"We were buried with him through baptism into death." 
Let us pause with that. We have learned before that the 
persons to be baptized and the man who baptized them 
went down into the water; the baptizing was done there; 
and done with the water ; then they came up out of the 



BAPTISM. 119 

water. Now we learn, that in that baptism they were 
buried ; and if water was the element, what conclusion 
can we reach than this, that they were buried in the water ? 
That explains at last, what the act was. But if we 
had never heard of the matter before, we might exclaim. 
Bury a man in the water ? and if you leave him there, he 
will drown. But he is not to be left there ; for Jesus came 
up straightway out of the water. Philip and the eunuch 
came up out of the water. Well then, it was a temporary 
burial and not a permanent one, would be our conclusion. 
But not to allow anything to rest upon mere inferences, 
however logical, let us read a little farther and see if we 
can find any light on that particular point •? 

We read on, then, and when we come into the second 
chapter of the epistle to the Colossians and twelfth verse, 
we have this language. " Having been buried with him 
in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through 
faith in the working of God who raised him from the 
dead." Jesus Christ was buried in the tomb and on the 
third morning he came up. "Having been buried with 
him in baptism, wherein also ye were raised with him," 
makes our burial in water a representation of his burial in 
the tomb, and our rising from the water, of his rising from 
the dead. This burial explains some of the things that 
we met with before. It explains why a river like the Jor- 
dan was used instead of some smaller water. It explains 
why much water was needed and found at ^Enon — enough 
to bury men. It explains why, previous to the baptism, 
they went down into the water. They could not bury a 
man without doing so. It explains why, at the termina- 
tion of it they always come up out of the water. We 
learn then, that baptism is an act in which a manis buried 
in water and raised again in imitation of the burial and 
resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is done by the command 
of the Lord Jesus Christ himself ; the blessing which fol- 



1'20 SERMON IX. 

lows the act is tiie remission of our sins ; the act brings us 
into Christ, into the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Spirit; and it is followed by the gift of 
the Holy Spirit. 

If this is all true, my friends, it is a most solemn, in- 
teresting and precious ordinance. We can not overesti- 
mate the value of it. We can not consent to speak of it 
as a mere external act. It is the most solemn and sig- 
nificant ordinance ever appointed by the Lord Jesus 
Christ, not excepting that in Avhich we partake of his 
broken body and shed blood. Let my tongue be palsied, 
and my hand and arm drop from my shoulder blade, 
before I dare to speak lightly of it. 

When I was in Palestine, if I could have found beyond 
all doubt the very sepulchre of Joseph, in which the 
Saviour was laid away, and where he lay so stiU until the 
resurrection morning, I would have prized the sight of it 
above all that I saw. I Avonld have been glad to go in 
and stretch myself upon the same bare, rock floor, 
and to have some friend roll a stone to the mouth of 
it, that I might realize by imagination my Saviour's 
burial. We can not do that. We are not permitted to 
do it. But in this ordinance oi baptism we are allowed 
to do the next thing to it. Laid down in a watery grave 
in obedience to his command, we allow the water to close 
above our heads, and then, as though we were dead we 
are lifted by the strong arm of a servant of God out of 
that cold grave, and we start to walk in a new life as he 
started to walk in a new one when he arose from the 
dead. It is a sacred and a blessed privilege. 

When we consider this ordinance in the light of the 
passages that I have read, we not only see its connection 
with the burial and resurrection of our Lord, but we in- 
stinctively feel that it points us fonvard to our own death, 
])urial and resurrection. Baptism stands midway in the 



BAPTISM. 121 

life of a man who submits to it, very much as one of 
those old-fashioned guide posts, which we used to see at 
the cross-roads, with finger boards pointing this way and 
that. It stands there with one arm pointing back to the 
death, burial and resurrection of the Lord, and the 
other pointing forward to our own death, our own burial, 
and our own resurrection. And as it brings us into Christ, 
unto the forgiveness of our sins, it imparts to us the bless- 
ed hope that when we come to be laid in that grave, a 
strong arm will lift us out of it as we were lifted out of the 
burial in water. 

Can there possibly arise in the heart of any human 
being, when these things are considered, any repugnance 
to the ordinance ? Any feeling of disrespect toward it ? 
Any other feeling than a most profound reverence for it, 
and for the God and Saviour who appointed it ? I am 
sure there can not. 

Is there any one here to-night who desires to submit 
to it ? Oh ! my dear friends, you can not be baptized un- 
less you believe in Christ with all your heart. You can 
not be buried with the Lord in that holy and solemn way, 
unless you have repented of all your sins, have cast them 
behind you, and have stamped your feet upon the service 
of the devil. If you have done this ; if this is the state of 
your heart to-night, then it is your privilege to be buried 
with your Lord in baptism. It is your privilege to be bap- 
tized into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Spirit ; to receive the forgiveness of all the sins 
of your past life ; and to be enabled to walk in a new life 
— a life of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 
Does your heart pant for this ? Do you hear the voice 
of Jesus calling you to-night ? Do you aspire to that bless- 
ing to which he invites you ? Then, I beg you to come 
out, confess the faith which you have in him, and give 
him your life. 



SERMON X. 



CASES OF C0N^:EESI0N: THE EUNUCH. 



Morning July 9, 1893. 



I will read three verses iii the eighth chapter of Acts, 
from the thirty-sixth to the thu'ty-ninth : 

And as they went on the way, they came unto a certain 
water; and the eunuch saith, Behold, here fsM-ater; what 
doth hinder me to be baptized? And he commanded the 
chariot to stand still: and they both went down into the 
water, both Philip and the eunuch : and he baptized him . 

A very large element, and an effective one, in modern 
revival preaching, consists in the recital of cases of con- 
version ; and these are recited to the people for a double 
purpose : first, to show sinners by example, the way 
into the kingdom; and second, by the force of stirring 
and well selected examples, to stimulate sinners to the 
imitation of them. They have been foimd so effective 
that they make up a very large portion of the matter in 
the sermons of popular revivalists. Now the Lord knew, 
before men discovered it, the power there is in examples 
to make a matter plain, and also to stimulate men to 
action; and consequently he devoted one book in the 
New Testament to such recitals. The book of Acts is 
made up chiefly of accounts of the conversion of a great 
variety of persons in many different places. If you 
should take out of it everything that is closely con- 
nected with accounts of conversion, and of attempts at 

122 



•CONVERSION OF THE EUNUCH. 123 

conversion where there was a failure, you would have 
very little left in that book. We have then, in these days, 
two classes of examples of conversion, between which we 
may choose those that shall guide us. We have this 
class written down in the book of Acts ; and we have 
this other class which transpire in our midst, before our 
eyes. In the present day the great majority of the people 
are guided chiefly by the latter, as they are so abundantly 
described by the preachers. For my own part I prefer to 
be guided by those that are written in the book of Acts ; 
and for this choice I have two reasons. In the first 
place, all the conversions that took place in those early 
days occurred under the direction of inspired preachers ; 
and consequently those early converts were not misled in 
anything that they did. Secondly, after a vast multitude 
— thousands upon thousands of such conversions had 
taken place — the Holy Spirit guided Luke to select a few 
of them for a permanent place in the Bible ; so we may 
say that these cases of conversion have passed twice 
under the inspection of the Spirit of God. 

It follows from these considerations that if I, in coming 
to the Lord Jesus Christ, imitate to perfection any one 
conversion that is recorded in the book of Acts, my con- 
version is genuine, and without any defect about it. On 
the other hand, if, in comparing my supposed conversion 
with these, I find any material difference between my 
experience and that of any one of these persons, then 
mine is, to that extent, defective and wrong. A man who 
supposes himself a convert to Christ, can test the matter 
by comparing the particulars of his conversion with the 
particulars of these ; and a man who has not found out 
the way to Christ, can find out the way by examining 
these. They serve as infallible guides to those who have 
not yet started in the way of life. 



124 SERMON X. 

After these preliminary remarks, intended to show 
5'ou the importance of the inquiry I am about to institute, 
I propose to look carefully at the details of the conversion 
of which I have read to you — that of the Ethiopian noble- 
man who was baptized by Philip. These recitals of which 
I have spoken, so common in the present day, consist in 
telling the condition of the man before he was converted ; 
then tehing what he read, what he thought, what he felt, 
what was said to him, what was said by him and what 
he did, until the moment that he finds himself rejoicing 
in the forgiveness of his sins. Then the recital ends. 
These accounts in Acts furnish you the same material, 
and out of the one before us we will gather together and 
arrange these items according to the plan I have just 
laid out. 

Let us inquire first, then, who this man was before 
his conversion. We are told in the text that he was the 
treasurer of Queen Candace. He appears certainly to 
have been a Jew, or a proselyte to the Jewish religion — 
most likely the former— a Jew who, like Daniel, or like 
Nehemiah, had attained to a very high position in a 
foreign land. This man had, by his integrity, industry 
and fidelity, raised himself from the position of a for- 
eigner belonging to a despised race, to be the chief 
treasurer of the kingdom of Ethiopia. When he is intro- 
duced to lis, he had just been up to Jerusalem to worship 
God. He had made a journey of more than a thousand 
miles on land in a chariot, traveling at the rate of three 
or four miles an hour, to go up to the city of the living 
God, to worship God there; and now he was returning 
home. As he rode along, he was reading. I see a great 
many persons reading on the railroad trains. If I am 
going to or from Louisville, they are reading the Courier- 
Journal ; if I am going to or from Cincinnati, thev are 



CONVERSION OF THE EUNUCH. 125 

reading the Enquirer, or the Commercial-Gazette. I very 
seldom see them reading anything else, except that now 
and then I see a lady with a paper-covered book in her 
hand. This man was traveling, riding along in his chariot 
over a rough road, and he held in his hand the book of 
Isaiah — reading that. The text not only tells us this, but 
it tells the very passage he was reading, and what he 
was thinking about. He had fallen upon the fifty-third 
chapter of Isaiah, as now marked in our Bibles, and was 
reading that wonderful passage which begins, *'He was 
led as a sheep to the slaughter;" and he was reading it 
aloud. I suppose he had discovered what many others 
have, that if you read aloud you can keep your attention 
fixed on the subject better than by reading silently. He 
was aiming to learn all he could, and when he came to 
this passage he was puzzled about the meaning of it — 
" He was led as a sheep to the slaughter " — all mono- 
syllables nearly, the most familiar words in the language, 
but the puzzle on his mind was, " Of whom does the 
prophet write this? of himself? or of some other man?" 
It is impossible for any man who has never heard the 
story of the Lord Jesus Christ as wTitten in the four 
gospels, to read that passage thoughtfully and not have 
the same question arise in his mind. Now the fact that 
he did not know and could not decide about whom the 
prophet was writing, shows that he was not yet acquainted 
with the story of our suffering Saviour. This, then, was 
the man's condition before his conversion. 

I think, my brethren, whenever the Heavenly Father 
looks down on a man engaged as this one was, He is 
delighted to see the sight. You go anywhere, and as you 
pass along keep your mind engaged in the study of God's 
word, He loves to see you; you are very near to God's 
hand stretched out to lay a blessing on you ; and this 



126 SERMON X. 

man was. Notice, he had been up to Jerusalem, where 
the apostles had been preaching some years, and in the 
midst of the land where churches had been established, 
but he was yet in darkness. He is going down into the 
darkness of heathenism, in his distant home, and if 
something is not done for him before he goes aw^ay, he 
may die without hearing the name of Jesus. When God 
saw him thus. He went deliberately to work to make a 
Christian of him ; and we are able, by inspired guidance, 
to trace all the steps of the divine procedure which 
brought about his salvation. At the beginning of the 
narrative, we find that God's first act was to dispatch an 
angel from heaven to earth. We are not surprised at 
this; for we read that all the angels of God are minis- 
tering spirits for them who shall be heirs of salvation. 
But this angel did not, as you might have supposed, visit 
the man who was reading the Bible — did not appear to 
him or speak to him — though he was sent from heaven 
to bring about that man's conversion. The angel landed 
in Samaria, and stood in the presence of Philip, an 
inspired deacon, and said to him: "Philip, arise and 
go south into the road that leads from Jerusalem to 
Gaza." Then the angel disappeared, and I suppose he 
went away to work for the salvation of some other sinner. 
Philip, then, in obedience to the command, arose and 
went ; and I have often wondered how the angel of the 
Lord adjusted the time for the movements of Phihp and 
those of the chariot. Philip had a journey of two or 
three days, to get down into that load ; the chariot, only 
a run of two or three hours ; so, in reality, Philip started 
before the chariot did ; but when he came into the road, 
there was the chariot right before him. The angel had 
made no mistake in his calculation. In this, we see the 
first thing that the Lord did for the eunuch. 



CONVERSION OF THE EUNUCH. 127 

Observe, now, that all that the angel told Philip to 
do, was to get into that road ; and when he got into the 
road, there he would have stopped, I presume, and waited 
for some other command from the Lord; but just as he 
might have stopped, the Holy Spirit interposes and 
begins His part of the work of the man's conversion. He 
does not begin to work in the heart of the eunuch ; He 
does not say anything to the eunuch ; but, following up 
the action of the angel, the Holy Spirit speaks to Philip. 
He says: "Philip, go and join thyself to that chariot;" 
and, receiving this command, Philip ran, so as to over- 
take the chariot quickly. Now, we have an angel working 
at the command of God for the salvation of that man; 
we have the Holy Spirit ; but the effect of all that the 
angel and the Spirit did was only to bring the preacher 
side by side wdth the man who is to be converted ; so, 
if the angel's action, or the Spirit's, is to have any effect 
on him, it will be through the words which the preacher 
will speak when he gets there. Paul says. Faith comes 
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 

When Philip got up to the chariot, the man was just 
then engaged in reading aloud the passage which is 
quoted in the text ; for we are told that Philip heard him ; 
and Philip introduced himself in rather an abrupt and 
singular way, by asking him, "Dost thou understand 
what thou readest ? " If a man were to come up to you 
when you are reading and ask you that question, you 
might be offended. Why then did Philip introduce 
himself, or rather, the conversation, in that way? For 
a very good reason. He knew that if the man was a 
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, he could not fail to 
know what that passage meant ; but if not a believer, he 
could not understand it. Not an unbelieving Jew on earth 
to-day can explain that passage. Philip put that question 



128 SERMON X. 

in order that he might know what kind of a man the Lord 
had sent him to ; if a beHever, he would proceed to preach 
to him in one way ; if an unbehever, he would preach 
to him in another and very different way. The man's 
answer revealed his position as that of an unbeliever: 
"How can I understand except some one shall guide 
me?" He speaks as if he had become impatient in his 
vain struggle with the passage. I do not know why he 
asked Philip to get up into the chariot with him, unless 
he thought, from the way Philip looked, or the tone of 
his voice, or both, that he understood it ; and so, anxious 
and wihing to learn, he invites him to a seat, and with 
the book open before them both, they move slowly on 
their way. The eunuch inquires, "Of whom speaketh the 
prophet this? of himself? or of some other man?" The 
text tells us that Philip began at that same scripture, 
and preached to him Jesus; and this was the answer to 
his question. It was not written about Isaiah himself, or 
any other man, but about Jesus, the Son of God. It could 
not have required a very great effort in argument or 
exegesis to enable that man to see that Philip was right. 
All required was to tell him the story of the birth, the 
life and the death of the Son of God. It has been related 
that Voltaire, the great French infidel, said if he could be 
convinced that the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah is gen- 
uine, he would concede that at least one prediction of 
the prophets was fulfilled. Phihp had an easy task; 
the eunuch could not fail to see of whom the prophet 
wrote. 

A great many of the conversions in apostolic times 
were the conversions of single individuals, as in the 
present case. Philip went on with his conversational 
sermon until the chariot drove up to a stream, or to 
some pool of water, when the eunuch said, "Here is 



CONVERSION OF THE EUNUCH. 129 

water ; what doth hinder me to be baptized ? " Did you 
ever stop and ask yourself how he happened to ask that 
question? We are told that Philip preached Jesus to 
the man; but while he was preaching Jesus, the man 
found out that he had to be baptized, and asked the 
question, What hinders me? He did not wait for 
the preacher to urge him to this duty ; but he first put 
the matter before the preacher as the desire of his heart. 
How did that come about ? I have had people to say, 
"Brother McGarvey, I would like your preaching better 
if you would just preach Christ crucified, and not speak 
of 'baptism so often." Well, I like to gratify my friends, 
but I can't get along that way. When Philip was preach- 
ing Christ to the man, it seems that baptism was a part 
of the sermon. Indeed, it is impossible to preach Christ 
fully to a sinner and leave baptism out of the sermon. 
You have to mention baptism early in the story of Jesus ; 
for he was baptized by John; and at the end of the story; 
for then he commanded the disciples to go and baptize 
men in every nation. You have to leave out both these 
chapters in the history of Christ if you leave out baptism. 
It is a mutilated gospel that leaves baptism out of the 
sermons addressed to sinners. So then the eunuch had 
heard all this while he was listening to PhiHp, and he 
intensely desires to be baptized — so intensely, that before 
Philip said a word of exhortation on the subject, " Here 
is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized ?" We are 
not told what PhiHp's answer was. It is true that in the 
King James version it is interpolated, "If thou believest 
with all thine heart, thou mayest." But the true text 
simply says that he commanded his chariot to stand 
still, and they both went down into the water, both Philip 
and the eunuch. The writer really left out the answer, 
because he presumed his readers would know what it was, 



130 SERMON X. 

by knowing the answer always given to the question. 
The answer interpolated is no doubt the one really given. 
While they were down in the water, Philip baptized him; 
then they came out, and the same Spirit that made 
Philip come and join the chariot, caught him away, and 
the eunuch went on his way rejoicing. Thus the brief 
story ends. The man has been brought to the forgive- 
ness of his sins and he rejoices in the Lord. 

I wish now to look at this case from another point of 
view. Suppose we meet the eunuch down the road^— w^e 
are old acquaintances of his — and we say. Why, my 
friend, what has come over you — your face is radiant 
with joy? He answers, I have a right to rejoice. I 
have learned of the Eedeemer, of the Messiah that was 
to come ; and through Him who is the Eedeemer of men 
I have obtained the forgiveness of my sins ; this is what 
makes me so happy. Well, do tell us your experience . 
Certainly. Will he begin by telling about the angel that 
came down from heaven ? No ; for of this he knew noth- 
ing. Will he begin by telling what the Holy Spirit did, 
in directing Philip to come to the chariot ? No ; for he 
knew nothing of this. Well, where will he begin ? He 
must begin by telling of his own reading of God's word 
— of coming to a passage which he could not understand, 
not knowing about whom it was written ; and he may 
say, A man on foot came up to my chariot, while I was 
reading aloud, and asked if I understood what I was 
reading. He struck the nail on the head. It seems like 
a special providence that he came at the nick of time. 
He looked as if he knew, and I asked him how could I 
understand except some man should guide me. I invited 
him to a seat, and he explained the passage. As he did 
so, in that passage so dark, as dark as Egypt, I began to 
Bee a great hght. I soon saw that the prophet spoke of 



CONVERSION OF THE EUNUCH. 131 

a glorious Eedeemer dying for the sins of men. He went 
on to tell me what that Eedeemer had said that men like 
myself should do. While the man was still speaking I 
said, What hinders me from being baptized ? There was 
nothing in the way, so I was at once baptized, and I arose 
from that water with my sins forgiven, according to the 
promise of the Lord. For this reason I am happy to-day. 

Now let me ask you who are servants of the Lord, 
does this experience agree with yours ? I thank God that 
in all its essential points it agrees with mine. I am not 
sure that any divine power was exerted as in this case, 
to bring me and the preacher together ; but I see no rea- 
son why it should not have been. Are there not some 
persons in this audience who had no thought a few days 
ago of being here this morning to hear me preach ? How 
often you have been brought unexpectedly into meetings 
where you were deeply impressed ! Every impression 
made on such occasions was anticipated by God, and 
how do you know but that angels were dispatched to 
earth to bring you and the preacher of those occasions 
together ? If the eunuch had been told what that angel 
did, it would have surprised him. If there were to-day 
some inspired writer giving an account of your life and 
mine, you do not know how many angels he would have 
to speak of in the story. In God's providence He brings 
you face to face with the preacher of the gospel, and He 
does it for the purpose of your salvation. 

One more question in regard to this interesting man. 
Why didn't he say: Philip, this is a new thing to me; I 
will be back here at the Passover next year, and if some 
of your kind will be in Jerusalem then, perhaps I will be 
able to decide about this new doctrine which you have 
brought to me. That is not the way a God-approved 
man acts. A God- approved man, when he sees a duty, 



132 SERMON X. 

hesitates not, but does it at once. This man went right 
down into the water. He did not wait for Philip to urge 
him to go. This is the kind of prompt and decisive obe- 
dience which God likes. If you want to please your God 
and bless your own soul, remember that the very hour in 
which you learn what your duty is, is the hour in which 
to act it out. " To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden 
not your hearts." Is there a sinner here who wants to 
have an experience like this man's ? who wants to have 
this man as his model? Obey the Lord as promptly as 
he did, and you also may go on your way rejoicing. 

It is written of Barton Stone, that in his early days 
he was traveling through Ohio preaching, and having 
preached in the forenoon, he mounted his horse to go to 
another appointment, when, as he rode along, a stranger 
fell in with him, and said : " Mr. Stone, I heard you 
preach this morning ; here is a stream of water ; I want 
to be baptized. What hinders me ? " Stone had never 
understood this passage of Scripture before this ; but he 
was reminded of it, and he instantly resolved to follow it; 
so he said: "If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with 
all your heart you may." He answered, "I do believe on 
Him with all my heaii;." "Dismount, then," said Stone, 
"and let us go down into the water." They did so, and 
when they came out of the stream they parted — never 
saw each other again. Did Stone do right? Did that 
man do right? If they did not, PliiHp and the eunuch 
did wrong. If you do the same, will you do right ? You 
must, if you have the right Bible to guide you. Will you 
do it at once, and rejoice in the forgiveness of sins ? or 
will you refuse and go on your way sad at heart from a 
guilty conscience? Come, I pray you, and come now. 



SEKMON XI. 



CASES OF CONVERSION: CORNELIUS. 
Evening July 9th, 1893. 



Before the prayer I read a few verses in the begin- 
ning of the tenth chapter of Acts ; I will now read the 
last few verses of the same chapter: 

While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Spirit fell 
on all them who heard the word. And they of the circura- 
cision who believed were amazed, as many as came with 
Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the 
gift of the Holy Spirit. For they heard them speak with 
tongues and magnify God, Then answered Peter, Can any 
man forbid the water, that these should not be baptized, 
who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we ? And he 
commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus 
Christ. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days. 

In the two readings I have presented the beginning 
a,nd the close of the account of another conversion. I 
propose to look at this example of conversion after the 
same plan with which we studied that of the eunuch 
this morning. First, I wish to observe the man himself, 
before his conversion ; and secondly, to trace out what 
was done for him, and what was done by him, up to 
the time that he was rejoicing as a disciple of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

We have here a very curious description, but an 
exceedingly interesting one, of what would be called, in 
our modern phraseology, an unconverted man. He was 
a soldier in an army generally composed of heathen, 

138 



134 SERMON XI. 

blood-thirsty men. He was an officer ranking as the 
captain in our modem armies, commander of a hundred 
men ; but we are told that he was " a devout man " — a 
very remarkable circumstance in an officer in a heathen 
army — and lest we might understand that he was a 
devout heathen, it is added that " he feared God with all 
his house." This last clause shows that he was not only a 
devout worshiper of the true God himself, but that he had 
brought up his whole family in the same religious habits. 
He was not one of those worshipers of the Lord who are so 
timid about their own religious sentiments that they 
make no effort to impress their faith upon the members 
of their families ; for, " He feared God ivith all his house.^' 
This expression, as we learn farther on, includes his 
servants ; because it is said that he called to him " two 
of his devout servants." He was a man, then, of great 
religious zeal. He was not one of those worshipers of 
God, so common in the world, who forget their neighbors, 
or the wants and the needs of the poor, being satisfied 
with the idea that they have made their own peace with 
God, and who live the rest of then* lives for themselves; 
but we are told in the next place, that " He gave much 
alms to the people." The people mentioned are the 
Jewish people. He was in authority over the Jewish 
people in the city of Cssarea, and He gave much alms to 
them — a benevolent man. And this is not all ; you will 
find many men in these days who are benevolent, very 
benevolent, but who have no religious character what- 
ever. They have inherited a kind disposition, perhaps, 
from good, pious fathers and mothers ; they have been 
brought up from their childhood to have pity for the poor 
and distressed. But in addition to all this we are told 
that this man "Prayed to God always" — he was a pray- 
ing man. Let us put all these statements together and 



CONVEKSION OF CORNELIUS. 135 

see what kind of a character we have : A devout man 
who feared God with all his house, including his servants ; 
who gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God 
regularly, habitually. He is the man concerning whose 
conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ we are about to in- 
quire, and perhaps you are ready to ask. What conversion 
did he need ? What change did he need ? This is a very 
legitimate inquiry. I hope you will keep your mind on it, 
until you see the answer coming out. What change, in 
order to become a Christian in the true sense of the 
word? 

His character already puts to shame a great many 
of those who profess to be good Christians ; but before 
we reach the answer to our question, I wish you would 
look at this case from another point of view. I know 
men, and I have met a great many, who are so good 
already, though out of the church, that they have no 
fears about the future. They will tell you how honest 
they are ; how truthful they are ; how prompt to pay 
every debt, and to discharge every obligation ; that they 
try to be good husbands and fathers, good neighbors ; 
and that they do their share in providing for the wants 
of the poor and needy in the community in which they 
live; and they say, "I can't see what there is for me 
to fear." And so they content themselves to Uve and die 
as they are. Now if there should be one of that class 
here to-night, male or female, I ask you to come up and 
let us take your portrait side by side with that of Cor- 
nelius, and see which presents the fairer appearance — 
which stands higher in the scale of excellence, according 
to a true estimate of humanity. He was a devout man; 
he gave much alms to the people ; he feared God ; and 
his whole family, including servants, did the same ; and 
he prayed to God continually. If that man needed to 



136 



SERMON XI. 



hear words by wliich he might be saved, don't yoa need 
somethmg of the same kind ? And, if that man did hear 
such woj-ds, wouldn't it be wise in you to Hsten to those 
same words, and to secure that same heavenly boon, the 
salvation of your soul ? 

After all that is said about his excellence of char- 
acter, he had committed sins; he knew, when he ran 
over his past life, that he had committed many sins 
against his God ; and he had never approached God in 
His appointed way, to secure the forgiveness of a single 
sin; for he did not know how; he was not acquainted 
with Christ. The very best man or woman in this city 
to-day, has many sins which need to be forgiven. 

Let us look at this case, and see what this man really 
needed in order that he might stand complete in all the 
fullness of Christ, and as a disciple of the Lord be ready 
for death and eternity. According to his custom, he was 
praying at the third hour of the day, one of his regular 
hours of prayer — notice, not just before he went to bed, 
his eyes heavy with sleep ; not at some leisure hour, but 
in the very middle of the afternoon he had an appointed 
hour of prayer which he did not neglect. As he was 
praying — we can see, and he could see afterward — God 
chose that very moment to begin to make up what he 
lacked of being a Christian. How^ similar to the case of 
this morning ! While the eunuch was riding along in his 
chariot, reading the book of Isaiah, studying the proph- 
et's w^ords about the death of the Lord Jesus, which he 
could not understand, just at that moment God brings 
the preacher to the side of his chariot, to show him the 
way of salvation. Now this man was earnestly praying 
to the invisible God, and God had heard the prayers 
which he had put up before, and remembered his giving 
of alms ; for God, my brethren, we are assured in the 



CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS. 137 

Bible, never forgets one good thing we do, even if it is 
nothing more than giving a cup of water to one of his 
disciples. Just then an angel stands visible before 
Cornelius in his room. How beautiful ! What delightful 
beings the angels are ! One of them stands before Cor- 
nelius. He says, " Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and 
thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God." 
Now when we hear the angel say this, w^e are thrown 
back to the question we raised awhile ago : If that man 
has led such a life, and this angel's message is true, 
what does he need more? Suppose that next Sunday 
morning a man should go into some church in Louisville 
and say to the preacher : I would Hke to apply for mem- 
bership in your church to-day, and I am ready to tell my 
experience when the time comes. He is called up at the 
close of the sermon to tell his experience. He says: 
Brethren, I have been, for a considerable time back, a 
devout man ; I believe, and I think my neighbors will tell 
you the same, that I have feared God ; I have taught 
my family and servants the same thing; I have 
been, for years, punctual and prompt in giving alms to 
the poor around me ; and I have been habitually given 
to prayer. Yesterday afternoon at three o'clock an angel 
appeared before me, and said to me: "Thy prayer is 
heard and thine alms are had in remembrance in the 
sight of God." Now brethren, that is my experience — will 
you receive me ? What church is there that would not ? 
And yet, this man was not yet a Christian ; he lacked 
something yet that was to be supplied, for that angel did 
not stop with telhng him that his prayers and his alms 
had gone up for a memorial before God, but he added, 
"Send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, w^hose sur- 
name is Peter. He lodgeth with one Simon, a tanner, 
whose house is by the sea-side, that you may hear words 



138 SERMON XI. 

from him." And Peter, when he was telling the story 
afterwards, expressed it in this way: "That you may 
hear words by which you and your house may be saved ;" 
so he had yet to hear words by which he might be saved. 
That is very singular in appearance to our modern eyes, 
because we have not the scriptural conception of con- 
version altogether in our minds. 

Comehus was a very prompt man. I admire a man 
who does not dilly-dally about things — who goes right to 
work. It was now past the middle of the afternoon, but 
he called two of his devout servants and a devout soldier, 
and he told these three men all that the angel had said, 
and started them to Joppa. They could not get there 
that night, but they got there the next day about noon. 
From the state of the church, it would appear that those 
men would go on a hopeless errand ; for up to this time, 
no uncircumcised person had ever been received into the 
church. The apostles had not yet been told that the old 
law had been set aside. They believed that in obedience 
to God's own law, they ought not to receive into the 
church an uncircumcised man; and Peter would have 
said, No, I can not come. Something had to be done to 
make him willing to come ; so, while the men were on 
the way to Joppa, Peter went on the house-top to pray, 
and he became very hungry; but while they made ready, 
he fell into a trance and saw, in a sheet let down from 
heaven, all manner of beasts and creeping things, while 
a voice from heaven said, "Arise, Peter; kill and eat." 
But Peter said, "Not so. Lord; for I have never eaten 
anything that is common or unclean;" but the voice 
commanded him, "What God hath cleansed, make thou 
not common." This was done three times ; and while he 
was yet doubting what it should mean, the men wiio 
were sent from Cornelius reached the gate, and the Spirit 



CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS. 139 

said unto him, " Behold, three men seek thee ; go with 
them, nothing doubting." He went down and there were 
the three men. They had inquired for tho house of 
Simon the tanner, and had found it. Peter received 
them, and the next day he went with them to Csesarea. 
They got to the house of Cornelius about the same time 
of day that they had started for Joppa ; and when Cor- 
nelius saw them coming, he went out and fell down at 
the feet of Peter, to do him homage as a messenger 
from God. But Peter, not knowing but that he meant 
to worship him, said, " Stand up ; I myself, also, am a 
man." 

While the three men were on their journey, Cornelius, 
knowing the time it would take to go to Joppa and come 
back, had invited to his house a large number of his 
kinsmen and friends. I don't suppose he invited any of 
his ungodly friends, but he picked his audience. Peter, 
on coming in, said: "You know that it is unlawful for me 
to go into the house of a man of another nation ; but God 
hath showed me that I should not call any man unclean. 
With what intent did you send for me ?" Cornelius stated 
the facts and then said: "We are all here present in the 
sight of God, to hear all things that have been com- 
manded thee by the Lord." What an audience! As- 
Sfeinbled in the sight of God, ready to hear his message 
and ready to obey it! Oh, if I could have such an 
auaience every time I come to Louisville, how many 
souls would be saved ! 

Then Peter opened his mouth and said, "Of a truth 
I perceive that God is no respecter of persons : but in 
every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteous- 
ness is acceptable to him." Appropriate introduction. 
Then he went on to preach to his audience the word 
which God sent, preaching peace by Jesus Christ. "That 



140 SERMON XI. 

word," he says, " you know." They were not iguoraut of 
it. They had hved there in Palestine. They had heard 
it over and over again in the last few years. Every hill 
and valley had rung with it. That word which began 
after the baptism which John preached, how that Jesus 
Christ went about dohig good ; how the Jews took him 
and slew him on a tree. But God raised him from the 
dead, and commanded us to preach unto the people, and 
to testify of Him, that whosoever believeth on Him shall 
receive remission of sins — shall be saved. The defect 
in Cornelius and his friends was not that they had not 
heard of Jesus — that they had not heard the w4iole story 
of his birth, burial and resurrection. It was something 
else, and we must watch carefully till we discover it. 

While Peter was still speaking, suddenly his auditors 
began to speak. The Holy Spirit came upon them as it 
had come on the apostles on the day of Pentecost, and 
they began to speak in other tongues, praising God. That 
was a surprise to Peter and the six Jews who had come 
with him from Joppa. When all had quieted down, he 
finished his sermon. He said to the six Jews, Who shall 
forbid the water, that these should not be baptized, who 
have received the Holy Spirit as well as we ? There was no 
answer. Then he commanded them to be baptized in 
the name of the Lord ; and that is the end of the story. 
We can now see that there was just one thing added to 
that good man, so far as his intellect was concerned; 
there was added the information that it was his privilege, 
as well as that of the Jew, to become a memljer of the 
Church of God. And so far as his conduct was concerned, 
all that he was required to do, was to be baptized in the 
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I tell you, my good 
friends, there are many good people who need notliing 
more than to understand their privilege, and to be bap- 



CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS. 141 

tized, in order to stand as they ought to stand. ConieHus 
is an example for such, and they should all have faith 
enough to follow in his footsteps. 

Perhaps some one in this audience is ready to say to 
me, You are overlooking one very important matter. I 
thought men had to receive the Holy Spirit before they 
could be baptized ; and there it is. The Holy Spirit fell 
upon them, and Peter said, Who shall the forbid water, 
that these should not be baptized, which have received the 
Holy Spirit as well as we ? Now let us look at that for 
a moment. They certainly did receive the Holy Spirit. 
Suppose you say then, I shall not be baptized before I 
receive the Holy Spirit as Cornelius did. See what you 
wait for. They received the miraculous gift of the Holy 
Spirit; for they spoke in other tongues. Ought sinners 
to wait for that now ? They will die waiting, if they do. 
No man, since miracles ceased, has received that gift of 
the Holy Spirit. We must remember that the miracles 
in these conversions are not for our imitation ; but only 
that which is not miraculous. If I say that we shall be 
as Cornelius in receiving the Holy Spirit, why not say, 
Cornelius saw an angel before he was baptized, and 
therefore, I, too, must see an angel. That is plain enough. 
Angels do not appear visibly now. They appeared in 
those early days, to establish the fact that they are here 
and working among us ; but their visible appearance is 
no longer needed. Furthermore, if you will look a little 
closely at this text, you will find why that miracle was 
wrought on Cornelius — that it was not for a change in 
him, but for the instruction of Peter and those Jews. We 
may learn what a thing is made for, by the use that is 
made of it. Suppose that to-morrow morning you get 
into the cab of a locomotive that is going out, and some 
one asks you, What is that handle for ? and what is this 



142 SERMON XI. 

one for? You say you do not know; but you sit there 
until you see the engineer move this to the right and 
that to the left, and immediately the purpose of each is 
apparent in the effect upon the engine. So here you see 
the miraculous tongues, but you do not see their purpose. 
But wait until you see what use Peter makes of the rmi-- 
acle. He uses it to convince the Jews that an uncir- 
cumcised man should be dealt with as the circumcised ; 
for, " In every nation, he that feareth him and worketh 
righteousness, is acceptable to him." After he went to 
Jerusalem, the brethren called him to account ; but he 
said. Brethren, when I saw the Holy Spirit come upon 
them as it did on us in the beginning, what was I, that I 
should withstand God ? And when the brethren heard 
that, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying. 
Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance 
unto life. This miraculous gift of the Spirit, then, was 
not intended to work a change in Cornelius and his 
friends, but to make it plain to everybody that the Gen- 
tiles had the privilege of entering the kingdom on the 
same terms with the Jew. It settled the question forever : 
and as no one has since denied this right of the Gentiles, 
no one else has to this day received the Holy Spmt as 
Cornelius did before baptism. 

Cornelius had indirectly promised to be prompt in 
obeying the Lord, whenever he should learn what he had 
to do; and now he fulfills his pledge, and goes on his 
way rejoicing. He knows now that his sins are all blotted 
from God's remembrance, and they are the same as if 
they had never been. I would like to see that good man 
— well, I expect to see him, and have a good long talk 
with him. 1 will say. Well, Cornelius, we do not know 
anything about you after your baptism, and I would like 
to know how you got along. I think his answer will be. 



CONVEBSION OF CORNELIUS. 143 

I was a devout man before the apostle baptized me, but 
1 was more devout afterwards. I taught my household ; 
I gave alms to the people, before I became a member of 
Clirist's church ; I prayed to God regularly and constantly 
before ; but I prayed with more love and more zeal, with 
deeper satisfaction to my soul, all the rest of my days. 
I hope that this will be his story, and I am sure it will be. 
Now, if there is any one here to-night who doesn't 
feel conscious of being a very great sinner — and if you 
are not, you ought not pretend to be — what is it you 
need to do to be acceptable to God. The old idea that a 
man ought to feel himself to be the very worst sinner in 
the world before he can come to Christ, is wrong. If he 
persuades himself that he is the worst sinner when he is 
not, he is led into a blunder, a misconception of himself. 
A man ought to form as fair an estimate of himself as 
he can. We do not like to look on the dark side of 
ourselves. No man, looking into a mirror, likes to see 
the spots on the face that are not his beauty spots ; and 
so in regard to our character. If there is one sin, and 
only one, that we have been guilty of, we must repent ; 
we must repent of all of our sins, that by the efficacy of 
the blood of Christ, we may be saved. Now whether you 
have many sins, or few, they are the things to keep you 
out of heaven; nothing else can. All the enemies on 
earth can not keep you out of heaven ; all the angels in 
heaven, if they should turn away from God, could not 
keep you out of heaven ; but one sin, of which you have 
not repented, may. Lift up your souls, brethren, and 
call upon God for help. Pray to Him for strength that 
you may live purer and holier lives every day — so live 
that your last hours may be your best. If to live such a 
hfe is the desire of any penitent sinner here to-night, 
heaven has opened to you the way to enter upon it, and 



144 SERMON XI. 

made it very plain by these examples of conversion. Be 
prompt, as these men were, in your obedience to God, 
and go on your way like them, rejoicing in the forgiveness 
of vour sins. 



SERMON XIL 
CASES OF CONVERSION: LYDIA. 



MoENiNG July 16, 1893. 



I now read a lesson in the sixteenth chapter of Acts 
of Apostles, beginning with the sixth verse, where the 
writer, in speaking of Paul and Silas, Luke and Timothy, 
who made up the apostle's company, says: 

"They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, 
having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word 
in Asia ; and when they were come over against Mysia, they 
assayed to go into Bithynia; and the spirit of Jesus suffered 
them not; and passing by Mysia, they came down to 
Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There 
was a man of Macedonia standing, beseeching him, and 
saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us. And when 
he had seen the vision, straightway we sought to go forth 
into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach 
the Gospel to them. Setting sail therefore from Troas, we 
made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following 
to Neapolis; and from thence to Philippi, which is a city of 
Macedonia, the first of the district, a Roman colony [that 
is, it was a settlement of Romans in the midst of the Greek 
population surrounding it] : and we were in this city tarry- 
ing certain days. And on the Sabbath day we went forth 
without the gate by a river side, where we supposed there 
was a Y>lace of prayer; and we sat down, and spoke to the 
women who were come together. And a certain woman 
named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one 
that worshiped God, heard us ; whose heart the Lord opened, 
to giye heed unto the things that were spoken by Paul. And 
when she was baptized, and her household, she besought 
us, saying. If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, 
come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained 
us." 
10 145 



146 SERMON XII. 

Thus I have read to you the inspired account of the 
conversion of Lydia and her household. This passage 
of Scripture has been brought freshly to the memory 
of all engaged in Sunday-school work, by having been 
the Sunday-school lesson a few Lord's days ago, and 
this is a special reason why I should make it the sub- 
ject of discourse this morning. I should be very glad 
always if the passages of Scripture on which I discourse 
on the Lord's day, were fresh in the memories of the 
audience, because then they could be more interested 
in what is said ; they could see more clearly the point 
in any truths presented; and they could decide more 
surely whether any erroneous positions are taken by the 
preacher. 

In studying any case of conversion recorded in the 
New Testament, for the purpose of understanding fully 
the subject and method of conversion to Christ, I think 
it wise, as we have done in examining two preceding 
cases, to look carefully first at the person who is the 
subject of the change. 

Let us see if we can form a clear and distinct idea 
of the woman here introduced, previous to the time that 
the apostles came into her presence. I think this will 
be well worth all our study, independent of the question 
of the process of conversion. I think you \vill find it true 
all through the Bible, that every woman introduced in 
Scripture story in any conspicuous way, is a remarkable 
one — remarkable for some striking virtues, or for some 
equally striking vices; and therefore well worthy of 
our consideration in studying human character. This 
woman, when she was introduced to us, was not at home. 
She was a woman of Thyatira, a city in Asia Minor, even 
now a to^Ti of some ten thousand inhabitants, mostly 
Turks and Arabs ; and she is presented to us in the city 



CONVERSION OF LYDTA. 147 

of Philippi, about three hundred miles away from her 
home, across land and sea. We find her a business 
woman, engaged in selling purple cloths. The purple 
dye was the most costly known to the ancients, and 
consequently it was never applied to cheap goods ; only 
the most costly fabrics were dyed purple ; consequently, 
to be arrayed in purple and fine linen, was to be rich ; 
and the Emperor was sometimes referred to as the man 
who wore the purple. She was not then engaged in a 
cheap business that required no capital. If she was 
employing her own capital in purchasing and selling 
these goods, as is most probable (for the modern system 
of traveling salesmen had not been introduced), then she 
was a woman in comfortable circumstances, and yet 
dependent, apparently, upon her own womanly exertions 
for her Hvelihood, having no husband, brother, father 
or friend to depend upon, or, if she had, preferring to 
be independent. Now I have known a great many busi- 
ness women, and I have very frequently found that their 
business contact with the ungodly world, struggling and 
pushing, and working all manner of selfish schemes, each 
to get the best of another, has often robbed them of some 
of the more dehcate traits of womanly character, and they 
are frequently worldly women with very little religious 
character or sentiment. I wonder if business relations in a 
heathen land had such an effect upon Lydia. We are told 
in the very brief account we have of her — brief, but 
extremely suggestive — that she worshiped God. Nobody 
in that city worshiped God, except as the result of Jewdsh 
education and training. All the rest were heathen. 
Lydia, then, was either a Jewess of Thyatira, or one 
of those devout women who, having attended the 
Jewish synagogue, had been made a convert to the 
Jewish faith. We are not able to determine by the 



148 SERMON xn. 

brief statement of the text, which of these is her true 
position, and I presume it makes no difference. She 
worshiped God. 

At the time that we are introduced to her, it was 
the Sabbath day. Now in this heathen town of Phil- 
ippi, and all over the world, the Sabbath day was un- 
known, except among the Jews and the proselytes of the 
Jewish religion. You find Lydia here, then, engaged in 
business ; and in a line which was pursued, most probably, 
by many others in the city of Philippi. When the Sab- 
bath day da-^-ns shall she keep her shop open, in order 
to maintain competition with other dealers who know 
nothing of the Sabbath ? Many a man who professes to 
be a Christian, in our cities and all over om- land, in all 
the different lines of business, labors through the Lord's 
day like any other day, when it is customary for men in 
his line to do so, claiming that he is compelled to do it 
in self-defense. Lydia was not a woman of an india- 
rubber conscience. When the Sabbath day came, her 
house of business was closed ; it remained closed all day 
long. There was no back door into that store; she and 
the women whom she had employed with her in the 
business, could not be found there. They had left home, 
and left the town, and gone outside of the city to spend 
the Sabbath. On the occasion mentioned in our text, 
they were out there at a place of prayer, spending the 
holy day on the bank of the stream which flows close Ijy 
the walls of the city — doubtless under the shade of over- 
hanging trees ; and from the fact mentioned that Paul 
supposed there was a place of prayer out there, we have 
reason to beUeve that this had been the custom of that 
group of women for a considerable time past. Lydia, 
then, was a woman of business ; she was a woman of 
fidelity to her God, whom the temptations and compe- 



CONVERSION OF LYDIA. 149 

titions of trade could not seduce from the faithful ob- 
servance of the law of her God ; and that, too, when she 
was far away from home among strangers, where there 
was no Jew perhaps in all the city to carry back a report 
of her derelictions, had she been less faithful to the Lord 
than she was. Now I have known men and women who 
conduct themselves with great propriety, when they are at 
home where everybody knows them ; but if you could put 
on that invisible coat which Jack the Giant Killer was 
said to wear sometimes, and follow them when they are 
far away in some great city, where they think nobody 
knows them, you might be astonished. Lydia would bear 
watching, although there was no one there to watch her, 
and to report to the elders of the synagogue in Thyatira 
any departure from strict propriety; and although 
there seems to have been no synagogue in Philippi, no 
men there to assemble together and conduct the usual 
services of the Sabbath, still, she and those women that 
were with her resorted to this place of prayer as faith- 
fully as though the elders were there to conduct the 
service. 

There is one remark made in connection with the 
conversion of Lydia which has attracted to it especial 
attention, and that is the statement that the Lord opened 
her heart. Have you ever raised the question, wbat was 
the defect in Lydia's heart which required the Lord to 
open it ? I once put that question to a gentleman with 
whom I was conversing, and he said, "Why, of course, 
Lydia, like all other unregenerate persons, was totally 
depraved, and it required a direct divine influence upon 
her dead soul to awaken her so that she could hear the 
word of the Lord preached with profit." I had to tell 
him that he was not well acquainted with Lydia, and I 
pointed out to him the indications which we have just 



150 SERMON XII. 

given of the high and grand religious character of the 
woman, putting to shame many a Christian woman of 
the present day. Whatever may be true, then, of the 
doctrine of total hereditary depravity, if Lydia had ever 
been in that condition she had certainly w^ell gotten over 
it at this time. Still, there was some defect about her 
heart, so that in order to bring about her full and com- 
plete establishment in Christ Jesus our Lord, her heart 
must be opened. Now to open the heart is a figurative 
mode of expression. The heart is compared to something 
that is closed up ; something that is narrow, contracted ; 
and it must be opened, or expanded with grander and 
nobler feehngs. Have you in the congregation — I hope 
you have not — a member noted for penuriousness ? Sup- 
pose some preacher were to address the audience in 
a very powerful and telling way in behalf of some char- 
itable institution, and you see that brother, who usually 
puts only a nickel into the charity box, thi'ow in a twenty 
dollar bill ; you would say. He has opened his heart ; or, 
That preacher has opened that brother's heart. You 
mean by opening the heart, that the heart which had 
been contracted and narrow has been filled with a 
grander, nobler sentiment than usual ; and haven't you 
noticed, whenever some grand, heart-swelling sentiment 
gets possession of you — haven't you noticed your chest 
heave and expand, sometimes finding vent in overflowing 
tears ! I think it likely that this physical sensation first 
suggested the figure of opening the heart. 

Well, with this idea of what it means, and a Httle 
more knowledge of the relation which the Jews all 
sustained to the Christian faith, I do not think we can 
be at much loss to find what ths trouble was with Lydia's 
heart. The Jews believed, and the proselytes were taught 
the same, that the Messiah who was promised, would be 



CONVEBSION OF LYDIA. 151 

nothing more than an earthly Jewish king. And as he 
would be a Jew, the Jews looked forward to his reign 
with national pride ; they anticipated the day when to 
be a Jew would be the highest honor that a human being 
could boast ; and so they were full of sensual, narrow, 
selfish, national feeling, when they thought of the Messiah 
who was to come. When an apostle would come before 
a congregation of such Jews and present the humble 
Jesus, point to His having established a kingdom not of 
earth, but one spiritual and eternal, it shocked them — 
fearfully shocked all of those ambitious feelings of the 
Jewish heart ; hence Paul's saying that Christ crucified 
was a stumbling block to the Jews. Now that was a 
defect in their hearts. Lydia had it ; and Peter had it 
until he was brought to the house of Cornelius. That 
feeling had to be removed from Lydia, or she would 
reject the Gospel. When it gave way, she welcomed into 
her heart this crucified Messiah. 

There is another question about the opening of 
Lydia's heart which is worthy of a moment's passing 
notice; that is, the effect of it. The remark, that the 
Lord opened Lydia's heart that she attended to the 
things spoken by Paul, is very commonly understood to 
mean that it enabled her to listen favorably to the 
Gospel which Paul preached; but that is a mistake. 
Our text reads differently. The first statement about 
her is that Lydia "heard us." That includes the fixing 
of her attention upon all that was said. The second 
statement is, " the Lord opened her heart." That was 
subsequent to her hearing. Then the third is, that she 
"gave heed to the things that were spoken by Paul." 
Now there were certain things appointed for every 
person Hke her to do, and she gave heed to those things. 
She believed what he preached. She repented of what- 



152 SERMON XII. 

ever sins she knew herself to be guilty of ; and she was 
baptized; then the text says "when she was baptized, 
she entreated us to come into her house." The result of 
openmg her heart was, that she gave practical attention 
to the duties prescribed for her, having heard already, 
before her heart was opened. There is the simple story of 
this good woman's conversion to Christ. 

The question might be raised, What need had she of 
being changed at all? Would not she go to heaven if 
she died as she was ? Perhaps she would, if Christ had 
not been crucihed and ascended into heaven, and if the 
law had not gone forth that men should believe in Him 
and obey Him, in order to obtain the forgiveness of sins 
and life everlasting ; but that had been the established 
law of heaven for quite a number of years, and it was 
necessary, if Lydia, under the Christian dispensation, 
should be saved, that she should hear of Christ, that she 
should beheve in Him, and that she should come to Him 
as the mediator between God and men, to obtain the 
forgiveness of her sins. This she did at once — as soon as 
she heard the Gospel message. 

But we are not yet done with the subject of the 
opening of Lydia 's heart. The statement of the text is 
that the Lord opened it. And there has been a great 
deal of speculation as to how the Lord did it. Many 
people, as soon as they read a statement of that kind, 
imagine a direct exercise of God's power upon the heart, 
and I am sure if there is any case of conversion re- 
corded in Acts of Apostles where we would expect God 
to proceed in that way, if he ever does, this case of 
Lydia is the one. For observe, while she was going out 
from Sabbath to Sabbath praying on the bank of that 
river, there was not a preacher of the Gospel on the 
continent of Europe in which she lived. There was not 



CONVERSION OF LYDIA. 153 

one who was able to tell the story of Christ, within 
hundreds of miles of where she resided ; and if God ever 
does open the hearts of men and women whose prayers 
he is hearing, to bring them entirely into harmony with 
the divine will, without the preached word, we should 
expect it to be done in that instance. But it was not 
done. On the contrary, the text clearly reveals to us a 
deliberately laid out method that God pursued, in order 
to reach the heart of that woman, and we are now to 
trace it. It was a most interesting sight to God and 
angels to see that group of women every Sabbath day. 
No faithful, true-hearted men or women ever assembled 
to worship God, especially under trying circumstances, 
that it did not interest every intelligent being in the 
heavenly world. God heard those prayers, and he 
determined, to speak in the human style, he determined 
to answer them. He does not begin to work for the 
salvation of Lydia, as he did for the Ethiopian eunuch, 
by sending down an angel. He does not begin, as in the 
case of Cornelius, by sending her an angel and telling 
her where to send for a preacher ; but He begins this 
time by working on the preachers in a different way. 
Paul and Silas, Luke and Timothy, were at this time 
traveling together and preaching through the different 
districts of Asia Minor. Did you notice that geographical 
sketch that I read you in the beginning? These geo- 
graphical sketches, when we come to them, are some- 
times, like genealogical tables, regarded as very dry 
reading. But when you come to such a passage as that, 
let me suggest that you always raise the suspicion in 
your mind that it is dry because you do not see through 
it. Nearly always there are some most precious truths 
imbedded in those dull passages in the Scriptures. The 
preachers had finished their work in Phrygia and Gal- 



154 SERMON xn. 

atia, and they resolved that they would next go down 
and preach in the district then called Asia, of which 
Ephesus, where Paul afterward preached nearly three 
j^ears, was the principal city. But the Spirit of Jesus, 
dwelling in these inspired men, said, No, don't go to 
Asia. Paul could not understand why this was. Then 
they consulted, and sought to go into Bithynia. Now 
Asia was off to the left ; Bithynia off to the right. But 
the Spirit would not suffer them to go into Bithynia, so, 
as they had finished up all behind them, and were not 
allowed to go either to the left or to the right, they moved 
straight forward ; and passing by the little district called 
Mysia — passing it by in the sense of not stopping there 
to preach — they struck Troas, on the shore of the iEgean 
sea. They had gone as far as they could without a ship. 
And if they take a ship, where, among all the seas, will 
they go ? They were thoroughly non-plussed ; and they 
wondered, no doubt, as you and I would wonder, why 
this mysterious over-ruling by the Spirit of God ? But we 
can see it. God was hearing those prayers over on the 
bank of that stream, and he was working to get these 
preachers there. They went to bed that night puzzled, 
and in the night Paul has a vision. He seems to see, 
away across the sea, standing on the shore of Macedonia, 
a man beckoning to him and calling out, " Come over 
into Macedonia and help us." Of course this was an 
impossibility, but we often see impossibilities in our 
dreams. The next morning Paul tells of his vision, and 
Luke says, we concluded that "God had called us to 
preach the Gospel to them ;" that that was the reason we 
were not allowed to go to Asia, or Bithynia. The Lord 
wants us over there. So, says Luke, " Straightway we 
sought to go forth into Macedonia." 

The expression, " We sought to go," is well chosen 



CONVERSION OF LYDIA. 155 

here ; because they could not go down any day to the 
foot of First street, as you do, and get on a steamer 
bound up or down the river. Very seldom would there 
be a ship in that little town of Troas ; and when there 
was, it would not usually be sailing to Macedonia, but 
to some one of the great cities, like Athens, or Corinth, 
or Ephesus. So, they " sought to go," and when they 
went down to the wharf, there was a ship. I suppose 
they called out, just as you and I would, " Where is this 
vessel bound ? " " To Macedonia," is the answer. " Can 
we get passage on it?" "Yes." "When will she sail?" 
"To-day. Come on board, if you wish to go." And they 
went on board. The vessel weighs its anchor, is soon out 
in the open sea, and here comes another expression of 
the author which you must notice. The truth is, my dear 
friends, you are never safe in overlooking a single word 
when you are studying the Bible. That expression is, 
"We made a straight course to Samothrace." You can 
not make a straight course on a sailing vessel, unless you 
have a favorable wind ; otherwise, you have to tack. The 
wind was blowing in the right direction. If you will read 
in the twentieth chapter, you will find that when they 
sailed back over that water, it took them. Jive days. Now 
they ran it in two days, and that shows that the wind not 
only blew from a favorable quarter, but that it was 
blowing a stiff breeze. I imagine those faithful preachers, 
when in the open sea, and, seated under the over-hanging 
awning, were enjoying the cool breeze, having a conver- 
sation somewhat Hke this — What good luck we have had 
to-day. We found a vessel in the harbor ; we found oue 
that was sailing where we wished to go. We found that 
there was room on board for us to take passage ; and now 
that we are out in the open sea, see how favorably the 
wind blows ; see how the sails swell, and how the good 



156 SERMON XII. 

vessel plows through the water. We will soon be there. 
What good luck ! Was there any luck about it? Oh ! we 
can see so plainly, and Luke saw it afterward, that the 
hand which holds the winds and guides the mariner over 
the sea, the hand which had guided that vessel into the 
port of Troas, was guiding it now, to bear those preachers 
onward in answer to the prayers of those women. God 
had been hearing those prayers, and was preparing to 
answer them. He was working for the opening of Lydia's 
heart. They landed on the shore of Macedonia. They 
looked around. Nothing here but a little village, Neapolis 
— new city. They leam that about ten miles in the 
interior is the famous city of Philippi, rendered famous 
by the great battle which decided the fate of the Roman 
Empire. They immediately determine to begin their work 
in that city. The Lord does not over-rule them any 
longer now, but leaves them to fmd their own way. They 
are in that city certain days, and on the Sabbath, they 
supposed that there was a place of prayer by the bank of 
the River Gangas, which flows by. I do not know why 
they supposed it, unless it was from something they 
heard on the street about some w^omen going out there 
every seventh day. They guessed that these were Jewish 
women, with a place of prayer out there ; and as this was 
a heathen city, given up on the Sabbath day to heathen 
practices, as soon as they heard this, you might know 
W'hich way they went. A stranger comes to Louisville to 
spend a night. There is a prayer-meeting over in 
that church ; there is a theatre over here. To which 
will he go ? That depends on who he is. Paul and Silas, 
as soon as they heard there was a prayer-meeting, did 
not hesitate. When they arrived, they sat down by those 
women. Oh ! the simplicity of those apostles ! Paul did 
not put up a temporary pulpit ; he did not hunt around 



CONVEKSION OF LYDIA. 157 

for means of giving dignity to the meeting. They all sat 
down on the green grass, or the bare ground, and I have 
wondered why the women did not get up and leave w^hen 
those strangers came and sat down by them. I think it 
must have been because they could see in the faces of 
these men, that they were not the kind of men to be 
afraid of. They allowed them to sit down and begin to 
talk; and what a talk it was! No formal sermon, but a 
plain conversational deliverance to these pious and 
godly women, of the wondrous news of a glorified 
Eedeemer, who had been slain and buried, but was now 
sitting on the throne of heaven, ruling over heaven and 
earth for the church. Now then, when it is all through, 
when Lydia and those women accept the truth, and are 
baptized then and there without delaj', showing how 
willing they were to walk in the way of the Lord, Luke 
looks back over the journey, the long, weary labor, the 
doubt and the uncertainty, and he sees it all explained. 
The Lord was hearing the prayers of these women, and 
in all of these strange movements He was simply reaching 
out toward the heart of Lydia and the others, that He 
might open their hearts to receive and obey the Lord. 
Is not that wonderful? That arm which moves the 
universe, is moved often by the prayers of very humble 
creatures; while heaven and earth and men are moved 
about under the guiding hand of God, to answer those 
prayers. 

I wonder if God ever does anything like this for you 
and me. It is the word of the Lord that conveys to our 
hearts the mind and power and will of heaven ; but how 
did it happen that that particular preacher preached to 
us ? How did he happen to be there, and how did I 
happen to be there, when my heart was opened? Oh, 
my friends, if you had an inspired writer, his mind 



158 SERMON XII. 

enlightened by Him who sees all things, you might have 
as strange a story written about yourselves as was 
recorded about Lydia. I imagine that wherever in the 
broad earth there is a poor strugghng soul, wrapt in 
darkness and struggling for light, sacrificing self in order 
to please God, God has an eye on that person; He hears 
those prayers, and He will over-rule and over-turn and 
direct, until the truth shall, some way or other, reach 
that soul. 

Now, to test this matter, this question I have just 
propounded — have you ever felt in your heart something 
Hke an opening sensation, while you have listened to the 
earnest presentation of the Gospel? Or, w^hen in the 
silent, quiet hour, you have read in your New Testament 
some of the teachings of Jesus, some of the earnest, 
burning words of those faithful apostles, have you not 
felt a sensation within like the expansion of your heart ? 
Your heart has been closed through sin. It must be 
opened, by removing the power of sin which draws it 
together in selfishness and worldliness, and by putting 
within it the expanding love of God and humanity, if 
you shall be saved. Have you ever felt that God was 
working with you as He worked on Lydia ? And why did 
not you attend to the things that were told you to do, 
as Lydia did ? Why have you postponed and neglected 
your duty? Ah, when you felt your heart beginning to 
o])en, you exerted all the strength of your will to close it. 
You resisted the living God; and hence you are now 
where you were then; and not until you cease thus to 
close up the heart that God would open, is there any 
chance for your soul's salvation. Will you cease that 
effort now? Do you feel any way drawn toward Chi-ist 
and toward God this morning? Are there nobler, grander 
sentiments in your soul, and your heart opening to 



CONVERSION OF LYDIA. 159 

receive the Eedeemer? I beg you in Jesus' name to 
hesitate no longer, but let your heart fly wide open, and 
take in all the precious love of God and Christ. Obey 
him with a true heart in full assurance of faith, while 
you have the opportunity. 



SERMON XIIL 



CASES OF CONVERSION: PAUL. 



EvENiN(r July 1(>, J 893. 



I have read you Paul's account of his own conversion, 
as he gave it to that mob. I will now read from the First 
Epistle to Timothy some remarks that he made about it 
a great many years afterward, when addressing one of his 
brethren. Verses twelve to seventeen of the first chapter 
of First Timothy : 

" I thank him that enabled me, even Christ Jesus our 
Lord, that he counted me faithful, appointing me to his 
service;" (of course, he would not appoint a man to his 
service if he did not consider him faithful) " though I was 
before a blasphemer, and a prosecutor, and injurious:" (I 
am inclined to think that a man who has been very wicked 
before becoming a christian, if he undergoes a thorough 
change, must be more thankful to God than if he had been 
a moral man). " Howbeit, I obtained mercy, because I did 
it ignorantly in unbelief, and the Grace of our Lord 
abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ 
Jesus." (Implying that if it had beed done knowingly, there 
would have been no mercy for him). " Faithful is the saying* 
and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into 
the world to save sinners;" (that is the great purpose) " of 
whom, I am chief:" (He did not feel, I suppose, that he was 
the chief of sinners when writing this; but that he was 
when Christ saved him) . "Howbeit, for this cause I obtained 
mercy," (that is, here is another reason why he obtained 
mercy) "that in me, as chief " (that is a chief sinner) "might 
Jesus Christ show forth all his long suffering, for an example 
to them who should hereafter believe on him unto eternal 

160 



CONVERSION OF PAUL. 161 

life." (That no man might despair of salvation seeing that 
chief sinner had been saved. Here he breaks out in one of 
those grand bursts of thanksgiving with which he sometimes 
interrupts his train of argument). "Now unto the King 
eternal, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, be honor and 
glory forever and ever. Amen." 

I have gone over the details of three of the cases of 
conversion which are recorded in the book of Acts to indi- 
cate how God turns sinners to Christ ; to indicate how the 
sinner himself turns to the Lord and obtains salvation; 
and to-night I add a fourth, that of the great Apostle Paul. 
The record of his conversion is not all given in one place. 
A part of it is found in the ninth chapter of Acts, a very 
brief account. Another account given by himself, men- 
tioning some of the details which had been omitted in the 
ninth chapter, is found in the twenty-second chapter, 
which I read to you in the beginning. And still another 
account given by himself to King Agrippa, furnishing 
some details omitted in both of the others, is found in the 
twenty-sixth chapter of Acts. When we put all of these 
together, we have all that we know on the subject, and we 
should use them all when we are endeavoring to form a 
conception of the event as it really transpired. Pursuing 
the same method as in the other instances, let us look a 
moment at this man just previous to the time that he was 
turned to the Lord. He himself declares in the passage 
just read that he had been a persecutor, a blasphemer, 
injurious ; the very chief of the sinners of his day. All this 
is confirmed by the previous accounts ; for Luke's descrip- 
tion of him when he started from Jerusalem to Damascus 
is that he was yet breathing oat threatenings and slaughter 
against the disciples of Jesus. He had already given his 
consent to the murder of Stephen. He had gone, at the 
head of a body of armed men, all through Jerusalem, 
seizing and dragging to prison both men and women, 



162 



SERMON XIII. 



because they were following Christ ; and he says to King 
A^rippa, "I punished them often in all the synagogues, 
and I strove to make them blaspheme." "When they 
were put to death, I gave my vote against them ; " " and 
being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them 
even unto foreign cities." When he had scattered the 
church in Jerusalem, until there were no more meetings 
there ; no more preaching there ; and he verily believed 
that he had killed the first church; not contented with 
this, hearing that there were some of these scattered 
disciples at work in Damascus-, one hundred and fifty 
miles from Jerusalem, he obtains authority from the 
chief priests to go down there and seize and drag back 
to Jerusalem every one of them for punishment. He 
is on that journey at the time he is turned to the Lord. 

W^e are beginning to wonder what will be done, what 
can be done, to turn into an humble disciple of Jesus 
Christ, such a man as that. In the case of the eunuch, 
you recollect that God sent out an angel to the preacher 
Philip, telling him to go down into a certain road, and 
he thus led the preacher to the sinner. In the case of 
Cornelius, an angel was sent to tell him to send for the 
Apostle Peter at Joppa, to hear words by which he might 
be saved. In the case of Lydia, preachers traveling on 
another continent were turned this way and that, and 
led forward until they came to the bank of the river on 
the Sabbath day, where Lydia and the women of her 
household were praying : but what shall be done for this 
man? Send a preacher to him? The preachers are the 
very men that he is after. It would have been a very 
dangerous thing for a preacher to meet him in the road, 
if Saul knew him to be a preacher. He would immedi- 
ately have clapped chains around his arms. What shall 
be done, then? In this instance, no angel is sent from 



CONVERSION OF PAUL. 



163 



heaven ; no preacher is sent to him from earth ; but the 
Lord Jesus Christ himself comes down from heaven, 
and in a hght, as Paul himself says afterward, that was 
brighter than the sun at noon. You never saw such a 
hght. No man but Paul ever saw a light so dazzling. 
The light that was brighter than the sun shone around 
him. They all fell to the ground like dead men, as the 
guards did when the angel rolled the stone away from 
the tomb of Jesus. Only one of the company heard his 
name called, and that was Saul. I do not know whether 
the voice was very loud or not, but it arrested him. 
" Saul, Saul ; why persecutest thou me ? " Was it Stephen 
speaking to him ? ¥/as it some one of those other 
preachers who had been put to death in Jerusalem by 
him, re-appearing to speak to him? Who could it be? 
"Who art thou. Lord?" is the natural question that 
broke from the lips of Paul. Although prostrated by the 
amazing sight, he was not frightened out of his wits ; he 
knew what he was about. He was a bold man, not afraid 
of anything on earth. "Who art thou, Lord?" "lam 
Jesus, whom thou persecutest." It is very difficult for 
us — I think it is impossible for any living man, now to 
reahze what a revelation this was to Saul. The men who 
believed that the Jesus whom the Jews had crucified was 
the risen and glorified Son of God, and were honoring 
him as such, he was patting to death. He thought every 
man ought to die who propagated that belief. And 
now, here appears before my eyes, in a light that 
shines from heaven above the brightness of this noon-day 
sun, a glorified being, who says to me, "I am Jesus, 
whom thou persecutest." What shall I do ? What shall 
I think ? Is there any possible escape from the truth and 
reality of what I hear? None. It did not take him a 
thousandth part of a second to see that there was no 



164 SERMON XIII. 

way of escape from the fact. Here he is, alive, speaking 
to me ; just come down from heaven ! I have been wrong. 
He is the Christ ; he is the glorified Son of God ; I have 
been wickedly fighting against my King and my Re- 
deemer. When this conviction came upon him, how 
did he act ? What more had he to say ? Just one word 
more: "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" That 
is all. 

The Lord had some more words to speak to him. He 
said: "To this end, have I appeared unto thee," [Instead 
of sending an angel, or sending a preacher, I have 
appeared myself for this purpose] "to appoint thee a 
minister and a witness, both of the things wherein thou 
hast seen me and of the other things wherein I will 
appear to thee; delivering thee from the people, and 
from the Gentiles, unto whom I send thee, to open their 
eyes, that they may turn from darkness to hght, and 
from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive 
remission of sins, and an inheritance among them that 
are sanctified by faith in me." Well now, what a won- 
derful thing it wa s, to take this persecutor and blasphemer 
and injurious man, and to lay out plans of work like this 
for him the rest of his days, before he had the slightest 
faith in the Lord ! Paul afterward had it revealed to him 
that God had had that purpose concerning him from the 
day he was born — that from the very day of his birth 
God had intended to make out of him the great apostle 
of the Gentiles (Gal. i. 15, 16). He had that purpose, 
and this is the way he brings it about. God intended it 
because He knew what would be developed in that child 
when it was born. He knew what the man would be. He 
knew the time would come when that great and mighty 
soul would receive the truth and love it, and would be 
willing- to labor and suffer for it as no other man has 



CONVERSION OF PAUL. 165 

ever labored and suffered. He laid out His plans accord- 
ingly. 

What was the answer to the question, "Lord, what 
wilt thou have me to do?" Was it left unanswered? 
There are some preachers so ignorant in these days, that 
they are constantly exhorting sinners to go to the Lord 
and ask him what to do to be saved ; urging them to 
pray the Lord, saying, "Lord, what wilt thou have me 
to do?" Saul was excusable for putting that question, 
because he had had no good chance to learn ; but every 
sinner who has ever heard the answer that was given to 
Paul, ought to know that that answer is the one for 
himself. What was the answer ? " Arise, and go to 
Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things 
that are appointed for thee to do." He told him what he 
was going to do with him in his future life, but as for his 
immediate duty, in order that he might obtain forgiveness 
of the awful sins of which he was guilty, Go there, and it 
shall be told thee what thou shalt do. 

There is another great lesson taught right here. Sup- 
pose that a man is directed to go to the Lord, and pray, 
saying, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" and 
the Lord should actually appear and answer him ; what 
would the answer be ? Would he tell him what to do ? 
No. Would he not say. Arise, go to Damascus with Saul 
of Tarsus ; learn what he was told to do, and do the 
same thing ? Arise and go to some man who has been 
taught how to direct sinners, ask him what to do, and 
then do it. So Saul arose, and being led by the hand of 
some of his companions, he went into the city. 

Now I wish to pause awhile before I go further with 
the story, and ask, how much progress has this wicked 
man made toward becoming a Christian? Does he 
believe in Christ now? Yes, he does — with a faith that 



166 SERMON XIII. 

never wavered from that moment to the end of his life. 
Why, my brethren, it seems to me Paul could have said, 
as he afterwards did say, " I know whom I have trusted." 
I saw him ; I heard him. It was more nearly a matter of 
absolute knowledge with Paul, than a matter of behef. 
Oh ! how strong his faith in Christ from that moment on ! 
Well, has he repented of his sins? For three days 
and nights, he neither eats nor drinks ; not a morsel of 
food or a drop of water passes through his lips. That 
was a terrible fast. Under favorable circumstances going 
without food and drink for so long a time would be very 
exhausting ; but he was praying all that time, and in a 
great agony of guilt, w^eighing him down and almost 
crushing the life out of him. What a terrible experience 
it was ! And how could it be otherwise, when he remem- 
bered the blood of innocent men and women which he 
had shed — guilty of the blood of Stephen, and that 
of many others — guilty of the sorrow and pain which he 
had caused to so many households by driving men and 
women away from home to escape his clutches, and 
by seizing others and dragging them to prison, and 
scourging them to make them blaspheme the name of 
Jesus ! No man ever had more reason for agony of soul, 
and no man, therefore, ever more bitterly repented than 
Paul repented in those three days. There can not be any 
doubt about his faith, or about his repentance. He him- 
self said afterward, if we accept the common version of 
a remark in the Epistle to the Eomans, "Being justified 
by faith, we have peace with God ; " and a great many 
persons have supposed him to teach that the very mo- 
ment a man believes, he is justified by faith and has 
peace with God ; but Paul was a believer for three days 
and three nights, and instead of being justified as yet, 
he was in an agony of guilt and condemnation, and had 



CONVERSION OF PAUL. 167 

no peace with God. Consequently, if you interpret that 
language in the light of his own experience, you see at 
once that the conception of it that I have just given, is a 
mistaken one. Now let us proceed with the story. 

During those three days, the Lord Jesus, looking 
down, allowed him to continue in his agony. I suppose 
he thought the man deserved it. I suppose he thought 
it would be good for his soul to writhe in that agony for 
three days and nights ; but at the end of that time, he 
appeared to a Christian in the city by the name of 
Ananias, and told him to go to Saul. He would find him 
in a certain house, and find him praying. Ananias knew 
how to direct such a man to peace and rest in the Lord, 
so he went to the house. One of the very men whom Saul 
had come up there to seize, and put in chains, and carry 
back to Jerusalem, and who was afraid to go when the 
Lord first told him to go, goes in and finds him there 
prostrated, worn out, pale and nervous, still in agony, 
still in prayer. He says, "Brother Saul, the Lord, even 
Jesus who appeared to thee by the way, has sent me to 
thee that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled 
with the Holy Spirit." He laid his hands on him and 
said, "Eeceive thy sight." Something Hke scales dropped 
off his eyes, and he could see. Then Ananias goes on: 
"The God of our fathers hath appointed thee to know 
his will, to see the Eighteous One, and to hear a voice 
from his mouth. For thou shalt be a witness for him 
unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And 
now why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized, and 
wash away thy sins, calling on his name." He arose, was 
baptized, and then they put some food before him, and 
he ate and was strengthened. His agony is over; he has 
received his sight ; his sins are forgiven ; he is filled with 
the Spirit of God ; he is a Christian now ; and this is the 
simple story of his conversion. 



168 SERMON XIII. 

Now let us go back over the story a little, and ask 
ourselves, first of all, what was it that convinced him of 
the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ ? It was the preach- 
ing of PhiHp that convinced the eunuch; it was the 
preaching of Peter that convinced CorneUus ; it was the 
preaching of Paul that had the same effect on Lydia. 
What was it that convinced Paul? It was preaching, 
still, only now the preacher is the Lord Jesus Christ 
himself. That is the only difference. I, this glorified 
being whom you see, am the Jesus whom you are per- 
secuting. 

Well, in all these other cases, there was some form of 
miraculous evidence going along with the preached word, 
to prove the truth of it ; and there is like evidence in this. 
If Saul had heard that voice coming out of the sky, but 
had seen no miraculous light, no evidence that it came 
actually from heaven, he would have regarded it as a 
mystery that he could not understand ; but he could not 
have been convinced by it that Jesus is the Christ. But 
that word from the lips of Jesus was accompanied by 
that miraculous light, and the visible miracle proved 
that the voice came from heaven. This caused him to 
believe, and when he beheved, his faith was that which 
threw him into the agony of repentance. Then, when he 
heard the word, " Arise, and be baptized, and wash away 
thy sins, calling on His name," he does not stop to raise 
any questions. This thing of raising questions about the 
ordinances of the Lord — why is it necessary to be bap- 
tized ? Is it absolutely essential to be baptized ? Are our 
sins certainly washed away when we are baptized '? — the 
time to raise such questions as these had not come 
yet. This was a time of simple faith. Men believed and 
accepted what the messengers of God said, just as they 
said it. That is faith. The very moment he heard the 



CONVERSION OF PAUL. 169 

command, he arose from his prostrate position and was 
baptized. Now he is satisfied. His agony is gone; he 
eats the food he had refused for three days and nights ; 
and what is more, he goes straightway to the synagogue, 
as soon as the Sabbath comes, and stands up there to 
preach in the name of Jesus, to the amazement of the 
unbeheving Jews. They exclaimed. This man came here 
to take to Jerusalem them who believe in the name, and 
behold, he preaches the faith that he came to destroy I 
He "confounded the Jews that dwelt in Damascus," 
proving by the testimony of his eyesight, and the tes- 
timony of his blindness, and all these other events, that 
Jesus is the Christ. The statement that he " confounded " 
them, means that he shut them up so that they could 
not think of what more to say in opposition to his 
preaching. 

Now this is the story of the conversion of Saul of 
Tarsus. Suppose that you, or some other sinner, is a 
great blasphemer and injurious to the cause of Christ. 
If such a man is brought to the conviction that Jesus is 
the Christ, the Son of the living God, repents of that 
sin, and all the sins of his life, and then, upon being told 
to arise and be baptized, he does it ; can't that man eat 
food with joyfulness and gladness of heart too, and go 
to work in the vineyard of the Lord, and try to turn 
sinners to the Saviour? Is not he a Christian too? 
Surely, if the Apostle Paul became a true disciple, was 
a genuine convert to the Lord, the man who walks in 
the same way, though he may be brought to faith in 
an entirely different manner, as the eunuch, and Cor- 
nelius, and Lydia were; yet if he has the faith, the 
repentance, and the obedience, he is a Christian as surely 
as they. 

I do not suppose I address any one to-night who ever 



170 SERMON XIII. 

had such feelings toward Christ and toward the apostles 
and the disciples, as Saul had, but, my dear friends, you 
know this — all you that have never come to Christ — you 
know you are sinners. You know that you belong to that 
same great class who are without God, without Christ, 
without hope in this world ; and the only hope is in Christ 
Jesus — faith in him ; abandonment of sin from the heart ; 
humble obedience to him ; walking in His ways. Are you 
willing to live and die in that class ? There are yet two 
great classes into which Christianity divides the world — 
the siimer saved, and the sinner unsaved — those who will 
be on the right hand in the judgment, and those who will 
be on the left hand. Without stoppmg now to raise any 
question about the awful fate of those on the left, are you 
willing to be one of them ? I do not believe you are. I do 
not beheve there is a man in this city, or a woman, who 
is wiUing to deliberately make that choice. You have 
promised yourself that you will not be, though you are 
now. You have promised yourself that you will change, 
though you have not changed. You have said. The time 
is coming when I will take the right stand and be with 
the people of God ; but the time has not come. Perhaps 
it has come and passed — the time that you once thought 
you would — and you have put it off to another day. That 
day has also come and passed, and if you continue thus 
you will find yourself suddenly in the face of death, when 
it is too late. You will need in that hour all the comfort 
that the Christian faith can give, to enable you to die ; 
and it is a bad hour in which to seek for that faith and 
to cry for that comfort. Why not, then, come to-night ? 
You never saw a day or a night more suitable for obeying 
the Lord, than this blessed Sunday evening. You never 
will. Then, in the name of the Lord Jesus, I ask you, I 
invite you, I urge you, if you beheve these things, while 



CONVERSION OF PAUL. 171 

we rise and sing tiie song of invitation which declares, 
" Just as I am, without one plea, 

But that thy blood was shed for me, 
And that thou bidst me com^e to thee, 
Oh, Lamb of God, I come, I come," 
I beg you to come and make your peace with God. 



SERMON XIV. 



CASES OF NON-COmrERSION: FELIX. 



Morning July 23, 1893. 



The twenty-fourth chapter of Acts of Apostles, and 
twenty-fifth verse: 

"Go thy way for this time, and when I have a con- 
venient season, I will call thee unto me." 

In four preceding discourses, I have endeavored to 
trace the inspii'ed accounts of the conversion to Christ 
of four different persons, widely separated from one an- 
other in space and character. The first, as those will 
remember who have been here, was the Jewish treasurer 
of the Queen of Ethiopia, whose home was far to the 
south, in Africa. The second was a subordinate officer 
in the Roman army, located at the time in Caesarea in 
Palestine. The third, a pious business woman in Philippi 
of Macedonia, on another continent — that of Europe; 
and the fourth, Saul of Tarsus, the fiery persecutor of 
the Church in Jerusalem. We endeavored to show the 
working of God's plans and devices — if we may so speak 
of Him — by which he brought about the conversion of 
these four persons. 

We now have before us a man in regard to whom we 
are safe in saying, that God laid plans of the same kind, 
and brought to bear the same kind of influences for his 
salvation ; but that the whole resulted in a failure. The 
man was left in his unregenerated state, and so passed 
on to eternity. 



THE CASE OF FELIX. 173 

I propose to trace the history of this case after the 
same method which we followed in the others, and we 
will try to discover why it is that the same divine influ- 
ences, the same workings of divine providence and grace, 
that saved the other four, failed to save him. 

Let us first then consider the man as he was before 
the Gospel was brought to him. Felix, before he was 
appointed Governor of Judea, was a slave; he was one 
of the housjehold slaves of Agrippina, the mother of 
Claudius, then the reigning Emperor. Whether he was 
born in slavery or had been reduced to it in later years, 
we are not able to say ; for the accounts that are given 
of him by early writers are very brief. But you can see 
at once that a slave in a heathen court, where his mis- 
tress was a heathen woman, where all his associates 
were heathen, and where all the vices that have ever 
been known round about a throne were ripe and rank, 
had very little chance to cultivate a good character. He 
became a favorite of Claudius Caesar, the son of his 
mistress, who, when he became Emperor, elevated Felix 
immediately from the position of household slave to be 
the head of one of the provinces of the empire, and that 
province inhabited by the ancient people of God. What a 
strange position for such a man to occupy ! 

He had been in his province but a short time, when 
by some accident he fell into company with Drusilla, the 
young and very beautiful wife of Aziz, the king of Emesa. 
The latter ruled with the title of king over a very insig- 
nificant little kingdom, which lies out between Palestine 
and the desert. This Drusilla belonged to the Herod 
family. She was the oldest child of that Herod who 
beheaded the Apostle James, shut up Peter in prison 
intending to kill him, murdered the soldiers from whom 
Peter escaped, and then died by the hand of an angel 



174 



SER:\roN XIV. 



shortly afterwards. She was an elder sister of King 
Agrippa, of whom I will speak to you to-night. Bad 
blood. Having seen this woman, and become enamored 
of her, Felix went deliberately to work, by means of a 
sorcerer whom he made his go-between, to entice her 
from her lawful husband. She, being filled with the 
passions that characterized all the Herods, love of power 
and love of gold, was persuaded to abandon her humble 
husband, thongh he bore the title of a king, for the higher 
and more lucrative position of wife of a Roman procurator. 
This transaction alone would tell us what kind of a man 
Felix was. It reveals a great deal of his private char- 
acter. 

Like all the Romans, he was fond of military display 
and prowess. Consequently, as we learn from Josephus, 
with a small army at his command he succeeded in 
driving out from the mountains of Judea, some bands of 
robbers who had infested the land for several genera- 
tions. In the meantime, we are told by Tacitus, one of 
the fairest minded of all the Roman historians, that 
Felix, "with aU manner of severity and lust, exercised 
the authority of a king with the spirit of a slave." In 
those few words, this great writer attempts to depict the 
character of his administration of the government ; and 
we find that the story in our text sustains this judgment 
of the historian ; for it was for the purpose of extorting 
money from Paul, that he held him in prison for two 
whole years after he had become perfectly satisfied that 
Paul was innocent of any crime, and ought to be set at 
liberty. 

This, now, is the character whose attempted conver- 
sion to the Lord Jesus Christ, we are to consider. A great 
contrast to that good Ethiopian emiuch, who, as he rode 
along the public highway, was readirg the word of God. 



THE CASE OF FELIX. 175 

A great contrast to that Eomaii soldier, who was a de- 
vout man, who feared God with all his house, and prayed 
to God always. A great contrast to Lydia, who, when 
the Sabbath day dawned in a heathen city, left her place 
of business and spent the day on the river bank outside 
the city, with other women, in prayer. And, even a great 
contrast with Saul of Tarsus, who, though a bloody per- 
secutor of the Church of God, was able to declare after- 
wards, when he could not be suspected of an uncandid 
statement, that he did it in all good conscience, and 
verily thought that his duty to God required it. Here is 
a man now, in contrast to all these, who is thoroughly 
corrupt in his private life, and thoroughly corrupt in his 
administration of the government that has been en- 
trusted to him. Very little hope of the salvation of such 
a man under any ordinary circumstances. Will this man 
ever go to church ? Those who are in the highest posi- 
tions of authority in this world, are not often church-going 
people. I have seen it stated, that, although Mr. Spurgeon 
was for a long period of time the greatest preacher in all 
the realms over which Queen Victoria rules, she never 
heard him; and that none of her household ever went 
inside of his tabernacle. Kings and queens, and the 
great men of this earth, often choose some man to come 
and preach to them, some man who will be altogether 
pleasing and acceptable. They very seldom go where 
any of their sins might become the topic of discourse. Of 
course, then, this heathen Felix, with all the corruptions 
and abominations in which he lives, may never be ex- 
pected to go where he will hear an apostle or evangelist 
preach the Gospel. Will not some of them dare to go to 
him then ? Not at all likely. Who would feel called upon 
to go and force himself into the presence of such a man 
as that, to present to him the Gospel of righteousness 



176 SERMON XIV. 

and peace and everlasting life ? He would be afraid of 
being driven from the door. How poor the opportunity 
then for such a man as Felix to have what we would 
ordinarily call a fair chance for his salvation. But God 
was determined to leave even him without excuse. 
The Saviour said to the apostles before He died, "Ye 
shall be brought before governors and kings and councils 
for my name's sake, for a testimony to them and to the 
Gentiles." It was a part of the divine purpose and plan 
to allow those faithful men of God to be brought before 
such rulers, in order that they might have an opportunity 
to present to them the story of Christ, which otherwise 
they would never hear. And there is just as much reason 
for saying that God went to work by a plan and purpose 
in the case of this man, as to save either of the four of 
whom I have spoken. He did not send an angel to him, 
telling him to call for a preacher, as in the case of 
Cornelius; he did not send an angel to the preacher 
telling him to go to the man who was to hear the Gospel. 
Neither did the Lord appear himself, as in the case of 
Saul of Tarsus. But, very much as in the case of Lydia, 
God guided in a strange and mysterious way, the foot- 
steps of the great Apostle Paul, until he was brought face 
to f-ace with this ungodly man. While Felix was at 
Caesarea, managing the affairs of the government and 
indulging his lusts, the apostle was in Jerusalem. Some 
old enemies, seeing him in the temple, raised an outcry 
against him and stirred up the violent passions of a mob, 
who seized him and dragged him out through the gate, 
intending to put him to death. Paul was near his end, 
when the uproar attracted the attention of the chief 
captain in the castle overlooking the temple court, who, 
rushing down with a body of Koman soldiers, rescued 
him, crying out, "What has this man done?" The mob, 



THE CASE OF FELIX. 177 

like many other mobs, did not know. Some cried one 
thing and some cried another ; so the Koman officer was 
uncertain what might be the charge against him. He 
orders the soldiers to rush him up into the castle. The 
mob rush to try to take him from the soldiers, but he is 
thrown across the shoulders of two of the strongest, and 
up the stairs they go. They are about to enter the door, 
which would be closed on him he knew not how long, 
when Paul says to the chief captain, " Wilt thou not 
permit me to speak to the people ? '"' At that request, he 
was allowed to address the mob. The Roman officer 
stood listening to that speech, hoping that in the course 
of it he would find out what charge was laid against the 
prisoner; but to his amazement, the prisoner delivers a 
sermon intended to convince and convert the crowd, 
instead of trying to vindicate himself; and the officer 
does not learn what he is charged with. When the sermon 
is ended, he orders the centurion to take him inside the 
castle, tie him down to the whipping post, and scourge 
him until he confesses the crime with which he is 
charged. Oh ! how our spirits revolt against such a 
procedure as that ! But it was very common in the 
Roman Empire. 

As they were strapping him down to the whipping 
post, he calmly said to the centurion, "Is it lawful for 
thee to scourge a Roman citizen ?" Immediately the straps 
were dropped. The centurion hurries into the inner room 
where the chief captain is, and says, " Take heed what 
thou doest to this man. He is a Roman." The captain 
says to Paul, "Art thou a Roman?" "I am." "For a 
large sum of money," he says, " I obtained this freedom." 
" But I was born free." Those who were about to scourge 
him left, and the centurion was alarmed and frightened 
now, because he had come so near scourging a Roman 

12 



178 SERMON XIV. 

citizen. But he has the man in his hands. He does not 
know with what he is charged. He does not know what 
to do with him. There never was a poor man more 
completely nonplussed than Lysias was. In order to 
determine the matter, he ordered the Jewish Sanhedrin 
the next day to come together; he takes the prisoner 
down under a guard; puts him in the prisoners' dock; 
demands now an investigation in his presence, so that 
by the proceedings he may determine whether to keep 
the man a prisoner or not. The proceedings end in a 
row — a terrible row between the Sadducees and Phar- 
isees ttiat Paul stirred up on purpose to prevent them 
from doing him injustice. He orders the soldiers to take 
the man back to the castle. Now, what can he do ? 

The next day a nephew of Paul, who happened to 
be in the city, finds admission to the prisoner and tells 
him that forty men of the Jews have bound themselves 
under a great curse that they will neither eat nor drink 
until they have killed him. They have requested the 
chief captain Lysias to send thee down again to-morrow, 
that they may inquire more particularly about thee, and 
they are lying in wait to kill thee. Their plan was, to he 
on some cross street until the soldiers marched along, 
then make a rush from both sides, and kill him before 
the soldiers would know what was going on. They could 
do it very easily. Paul's life is in peril again. He calls 
the centurion and says, " Take this young man to the 
chief captain; he has something to tell him." He told 
the chief captain the story. He said, "Now, young man, 
you go back and do not say a word to anybody about 
what you have told me." Then he calls two centurions, 
saying, " Get ready two hundred spear-men, two hundred 
common soldiers and seventy horsemen, by the third 
hour of the night. Take this man and bear him oif to 



THE CASE OF FELIX. 179 

Caesarea to Felix the governor." It was done. He wrote 
a letter to Felix, telling him about his prisoner, and all 
he could say about the charges laid against him was, 
" I do not iind him accused of any such thing as I 
supposed — nothing that is worthy of death or bonds." 
He explains why he had sent him. Felix reads the letter; 
looks at his prisoner; sends back orders for the Jews to 
come down and accuse him ; and orders him to be kept 
under guard. Now the preacher and the sinner are pretty 
close together ; and this is the way the preacher has been 
sent by the providence of God, so that he may have an 
opportunity, which otherwise, in all probability, he would 
never have had, to preach the Gospel to Felix. 

His accusers come down, and there is a trial of the 
case. Felix learns from the trial little except the same 
thing that Lysias had learned, that there was nothing 
even charged against Paul to justify imprisonment or 
death. Then his duty was to set him free. But if he had 
done that, Paul would never have had an opportunity to 
preach to Felix — he would have gone off preaching some- 
where else. Why didn't he set him free? The fact that 
he did not is explamed by a single remark made by Paul 
in the course of his defense. In order to explain how he 
happened to be in Jerusalem at that time, he said to 
Felix, " After many years" (that is, of absence,) "I came 
up to Jerusalem to bring alms and offerings to my 
people." That caught the ear of Felix. This man came 
from distant lands up to Jerusalem to bring alms for a 
nation ; to bring money enough to feed the poor people 
of the country. He must have some way of getting 
money in large quantities. I must have some of it. If 
be could raise money that way to feed a nation when 
they were in distress, how easy it will be for him to raise 
a large sum to get himself out of prison so that he can 



180 SERMON XIV. 

go ou with his preaching. 1 will keep him until I get a 
good fat fee to release him. Now here is the purpose 
fully set forth, of the man upon whom the power of the 
Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be brought to bear, 
and we shall see the result. 

After some days Felix ordered Paul into the presence 
of himself and Drusilla, that he might hear him con- 
cerning the faith in Chiist. I wonder what he cared for 
the faith in Christ. I don't suppose he cared much ; but 
all the land of Judea was ringing with the question about 
the faith in Christ ; many other lands were ringing with 
it ; and Felix was a man who wanted to know what was 
going on in the world. How many men in our own time, 
in our own community, who do not care a snap of your 
finger about the faith in Christ, but if some very noted 
preacher of it comes to town, they will condescend to go 
out and hear liim. They want to hear that man. They 
have some little curiosity to know what it is that is 
producing all this commotion, and attracting the atten- 
tion of the people all over the countrj\ And I suppose, 
from my knowledge of human nature, that it was some 
such thought as that that caused Felix to send for Paul. 
Paul comes. His audience is made up of those two per- 
sons. Think again, now, what land of persons they were. 
Paul has, of course, the choice of his subject. He is to 
preach on the faith in Christ, but he can take any part 
of the whole range of the faith that he thinks best, as the 
particular theme of his discourse. And what topic does 
he take? The sermon is not reported like some other 
of Paul's sermons. I wish it had been. Perhaps it is a 
foolish wish. But the heads of the sermons are reported, 
and, like many modern sermons it had three heads. The 
first was righteousness; the second, temperance — self- 
control being the more accurate rendering ; the third, the 



THE CASE OF FELIX. 181 

judgment to come. Preach on righteousness to such a 
man and such a woman ! Preach on self-control ! Preach 
on the judgment to come ! Who would have thought it, 
except the bold Apostle to the Gentiles ? What modern 
preacher would have selected a subject which Felix must 
have regarded as a personal reflection, and which Dru- 
silla might have regarded as an insult to a lady. Some- 
how or other those ancient apostles and preachers, 
and those old prophets of Judea of whom we read in 
the Old Testament, always addressed themselves to 
their audiences. They never stood up before one 
audience and began to speak of the sins and the crimes 
and the follies of somebody the other side of the river. 
If they spoke of sins, it was the sins of the persons they 
were addressing. If they spoke of the eternal judgment, 
it was to make those whom they were addressing realize 
the terrors of it. 

When Paul spoke of righteousness, there was a con- 
trast between that which he set forth and everything that 
characterized the life of both of his auditors. When he 
spoke of self-control, he condemned them at every word ; 
and when, having thus exhibited these two lines of 
thought, he carried them forward to the day when God 
will judge all men in righteousness, condemning the 
wicked and saving only those who are redeemed by the 
blood of Christ, what a fearful picture that was ! Some 
preachers in our day do not believe in preaching the 
judgment. They are afraid, apparently, that they will 
scare somebody into the kingdom of heaven. But there 
are some men who will never get there unless they are 
badly scared. A bold, daring, wicked man, trampling 
God's laws under his feet day after day, and moving on 
in defiance of earth and heaven in his wicked course, 
can be checked by nothing except the terrors of the 



182 SERMON XTV. 

judgment. Make him realize that which is awaiting 
him ; then he may pause to hear you. He may begin 
to think then that there is some value in the mercy and 
the grace of the gospel of the Son of God. 

What was the effect of this sermon on Felix ? You 
would naturally suppose that the effect would be to 
throw him into a rage. That is the effect it has on some 
men to point out their sins, and press down hard and 
severely and earnestly upon them. You would expect he 
would order Paul back to his prison in a fearful fit of 
anger and resentment. No; he does not do that. It is 
said, to the supreme credit of Fehx, and the most cred- 
itable thing ever said about him, that while Paul rea- 
soned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to 
come, Felix was terrified. And well he might be. When 
his guilty soul ran back over the course of his life, away 
back to his boyhood, and the ghosts of all the awful 
crimes of his career stood up with glaring eyes before 
him, and he thought of the eternal judgment that was 
coming, and of a righteous God condemning him to the 
fate he deserved, he would have been made of iron if he 
had not been terrified. I tell you, my friends, there is 
not a wicked man on this earth w4io would not be ter- 
rified, if he were made by some circumstance to face 
his sins and the eternal judgment. It is because they 
hate to be terrified, that they do not thmk about such 
things. It is because they do not like to be terrified, that 
they are not well pleased when the preacher presses such 
themes upon them. But it must be done, or they will go 
on to perdition without the warning which God desires 
that they should have. 

.He was terrified. How^ strikingly like the condition 
of the people who heard Peter's first sermon on Pente- 
cost. He bore down on their souls and their consciences 



THE CASE OF FELIX. 183 

by his story of the Lord Jesus Christ, until he reached 
the point where he said, ".God hath made that same 
Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ;" 
and such was the effect upon their consciences that they 
cried out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" They 
were terrified. Felix was brought to the very point and 
state of feelinp: that the three thousand were brought to, 
who were saved on the day of Pentecost. God put no 
difference between him and them. He did all for Felix 
that he had done for them, but there the lines of the two 
parted. \ 

They cried out, "What shall we do?" Peter told 
them what to do, and they did it. When Felix was 
terrified, instead of crying out. Oh, Paul, what shall I 
do ? he summoned up sufficient nerve to command his 
voice, perhaps with a calm tone, and perhaps with a 
kindly expression in it, " Go thy way for this time, and 
when I have a convenient season, I will call thee unto 
me." That meant, Paul, I see the direction to which 
your speech would carry me. I see the course that it -fj ^ 
would have me take, but it is not convenient to do it 
to-day. And was not that true? When he thought of 
this guilty woman by his side, whom he had seduced 
away from her husband, and that to go in the way Paul 
would have him, would be to leave her behind — to cast 
her off — it was not a very convenient thing to do. It was 
exceedingly mconvenient to get rid of her. And how 
often it is to-day, that men, in pursuing a wicked course, 
have gotten themselves tied up in alliances and forms of 
iniquity that they do not feel able to break when their 
consciences tell them they ought to serve the Lord. And 
all of those other wicked habits ; how inconvenient to 
break them all off at once. Paul, wait for a convenient 
season. 



184 ' SERMON XIV. 

Did you ever pause, you have heard this text com- 
mented on hundreds of times — it is a favorite with 
preachers, always has been and always will be — did you 
ever pause to ask yourself what a convenient season is? 
Why, of course, it is a season when you can do a thing 
just as easily as not. When a friend asks you to do 
something, if convenient, you answer: "Oh, yes; it is 
entirely convenient. No trouble at all." That is what 
is meant by a convenient season. Well, do you suppose 
a convenient season ever comes to a wicked, bad man, 
convenient season to repent ? It never does. He has to 
put himself to a great inconvenience when he makes the 
change. Do you believe that a convenient season to turn 
away from wickedness to serving the Lord, ought to 
come? I don't. I think if a man has trampled God's 
laws under his feet, and defied heaven and the rights 
of his fellow men, and shown himself a wicked, aban- 
doned wretch, I think that he ought to have to go through 
some fearful agony in coming back to the right faith. 
He deserves it. He ought not to expect to get out of it 
just as easily as sitting down when you are tired. " Per- 
fectly convenient to do it." I do not believe God will ever 
allow a man of that kind to have a convenient season to 
repent. He will always find, if he repents at all, that he 
must do it at a sacrifice — with struggle and pain and 
trouble. 

But, " I will wait for a convenient season." Did the 
convenient season ever come to Felix? Week after week, 
month after month, year after year, till two years were 
gone, Paul lingered in that prison, when he ought to have 
been a free man preaching the Gospel and saving hun- 
dreds and thousands ; but the convenient season did not 
come. Felix sent for him and conversed with him again 
and again, but it was inconvenient to repent. He wanted 



THE CASE OF FELIX. 185 

some money from him that he might let him go free. 
And Paul could have gotten the money, could have paid 
his way out, if he had thought it right to do so. Oh ! 
brethren, how gladly hundreds of thousands of Christian 
men would have given the last dollar they had to get Paul 
out so he could go on preaching. But Paul despised a 
bribe-taker, and he was not willing to be a bribe-giver. 
Eather lie in prison until the Lord's time came for him 
to be freed, than to be a bribe-giver. It never came. 
After two years, Felix left the province because accusa- 
tions had been brought against him at Eome. He was 
disgraced and banished to what was then called Gaul — 
now France — and there he died, and the convenient 
season never came. Once face to face with the apostle ; 
heard him preach until terrified ; but because it was not 
convenient to turn to the Lord, he would not do it and 
he went to hell. Oh, how many have done the same 
from that day to this ! I will venture to say there are 
very few men living in sin here in your town, who have 
not some day or other heard the Gospel of the Lord 
Jesus Christ and been terrified. They have done pre- 
cisely the same thing that Felix did, and are on the way 
with him to perdition. 

I once fell in with a lady on my way to church, of 
whom I inquired if she was a Christian. She said, "No." 
She said, " A good many years ago I was attending a 
meeting, and was so impressed by the preaching that 
I resolved at the morning service to obey the Gospel 
that evening. I started to church with the full intention 
of confessing the Saviour, but something was said on the 
way that turned my thoughts in another direction, and 
from that day to this, though I have gone to church 
regularly, I have never felt the slightest inclination to 
obey the Lord." My dear friends, you do not know 



186 SEmiON XIV. 

what you are doing, when you are tampering with (iod's 
commands ; with your consciences roused and stirred at 
times ; with your own better nature ; and putting off for 
a convenient season that will never come, the salvation 
of your immortal soul. Will you follow Felix's example 
this morning ? Or, will you rather pursue the course of 
the Apostle Paul? When he met the truth on the way 
to Damascus and heard the voice of the Lord, it was an 
extremely inconvenient season for him to stop his mad 
career of persecution, and turn round, and become a 
persecuted preacher of the Gospel which he had hated ; 
but he did not hesitate. He at once surrendered to the 
Lord. That is the way for a sinner to do. 

Now, if there is any soul here this morning, who has 
been, or is now% terrified by the thought of the day of 
judgment, and can gain your own consent to bend your 
stubborn will, come to the Lord Jesus Christ, and con- 
fess His name before heaven and earth, we give you the 
opportunity while w^e sing the hymn announced. 



SEEMON XV, 



CASES OF NON-CONVERSION: AGRIPPA, 



EvENiNo July 23, 1893. 



The twenty-ninth verse of the twenty-sixth chapter of 
Acts : 

"Aud Paul said, I would to God that whether with little 
or with much, not only thou, but also all that hear me this 
day, might become such as I am ; except these bonds." 

I presume that one human soul is intrinsically as valu- 
able as another. All are alike capable of infinite growth 
and development in the kingdom of God, or of everlasting 
sorrow and despair. And yet, there are some human souls 
concerning whom we Christians feel very little anxiety. 
There are two classes for whom we seldom think of pray- 
ing when we are on our knees praying for the salvation 
of men. One of these classes is composed of a certain 
number of men and women whom we know, who have 
gone in and out before us many years as faithful servants 
of God, adorning the confession which they have made. 
In regard to these we feel perfect assurance that in the 
great day of accounts they will pass in through the pearly 
gates. We have not the slightest solicitude or anxiety in 
regard to their salvation, because we feel as if it were 
already fixed. 

The other class is composed of another very large sec- 
tion of every community — men and women who never 
darken the door of a church — who are engaged in the friv- 
olities and the enormities of an abandoned life when the 

187 



188 SERMON XVo 

people of God are assembled for His worship. The rea- 
son we are not concerned about them is because they ap- 
pear to be so far away from the kingdom of God that 
their fate is assured — we have no hope of ever seeing them 
change their attitude toward the Church. 

While it is true that our anxiety and our prayers sel- 
dom reach out to either of these classes, the most intense 
anxiety on the part of truly earnest and faithful servants 
of God is centered on a third class ; that class is com- 
posed of men and women, boys and girls, who are stand- 
ing very close to the dividing line between the Church and 
the world — some on this side, some on that — whose fate 
for eternity seems to be hanging in even balances. Is not 
that your experience ? 

Now we might perhaps be inclined to suspect ourselves 
of not having exactly the right feeling in regard to these 
three classes, were it not for the fact revealed to us by 
the blessed Lord that the angels in heaven have a very 
similar feehug, if not identically the same. For the Lord 
tells us that there is more joy among the angels of God 
over one sinner that repents — one of those close to the 
line who comes over — than over ninety-nine just persons 
that need no repentance. It is certainly a most delight- 
ful object for those bright angels to look down upon, 
ninety-nine men and women in this world who are proof 
against aU the temptations of the world, the flesh, and 
the devil, who need no repentance ; but there is more joy 
among them when they see one sinner repent. The same 
kind of feeling that we have animates them. 

I think I discover, too, m the apostle Paul, on the oc- 
casion of which I have read you to-night, a similar feel- 
ing. There were two men in the audience which he ad- 
dressed on that occasion, who constituted the principal 
figures in his own eye, and in the eyes of all the gay and 



KING AGEIPPA. 189 

gorgeous assembly who were seated there listening to his 
words. These were Festus, the Eoman procurator, the 
successor of Felix, the Felix of whom I spoke to you this 
morning, and by his side young King Agrippa. Paul had 
already formed some decree of familiarity with Festus. 
Festus was a politician — a politician in the Eoman em- 
pire, and whatever may be said about the corruption that 
is common in American politics, I presume it is mod- 
est in comparison with the corruption of Eoman politics 
in the time of Nero. He had attained, by his political 
devices, to the high position of the procurator of the prov- 
ince of Judea . 

He became acquainted with Paul in about this way : 
he found, when he came into the province and looked 
around on the state of affairs, a prisoner by the name of 
Paul, left there by Felix in bonds. He went up to Jeru- 
salem naturally to look around on the state of affairs in 
that great city, though Caesarea was the political capital, 
and while he was there the chief priests and the scribes 
gathered around him and requested him to give a sen- 
tence of death against the man Paul. He was surprised 
at such a request as that, and he answered these men by 
saying, " It is not the custom of the Eomans to deliver a 
man up to die until he has had his accusers face to face and 
been permitted to defend himself." So he commanded the 
chief men of them to come down to Caesarea, and promised 
that he would hear the utmost of the matter. They came, 
and the prisoner Paul was brought out for the first time 
in the presence of this new procurator. The chief priests 
and scribes, by their attorney, stood up once more, and 
accused him in the same manner as before Felix. He 
listened to all they had to say. He heard Paul's defense. 
And then, in order to gratify the Jews, he proposed to 
Paul, " Wilt thou go with me up to Jerusalem, and there 



190 SERMON XV. 

be judged of this matter? " Paul, knowing full well that 
just two years before forty men in Jerusalem had sworn 
and bound themselves under a great curse neither to eat 
nor drink until they had killed him, and, supposing that 
these men were quite hungry and thirsty by this time, did 
not want to go to Jerusalem. So he said, *' I stand before 
Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged" — 
(that is. Here in Caesarea, the political capital of the coun- 
try, is where the court ought to be held) ; " to the Jews I 
have done no wrong, as thou, also, very well knowest. If 
I have done anything w^orthy of death, I refuse not to 
die ; but if none of these things be true, no man shall de- 
liver me into their hands. I appeal to Caesar." This 
was his right, as a Eoman citizen ; and it meant that the 
proceedings in this court must stop immediately, and that 
he himself and his accusors and the witnesses should be 
sent, at the expense of the Eoman government, to Kome ; 
the whole of the case should be transferred to an impe- 
rial court, the Emperor himself being the presiding officer 
of that court. "Thou hast appealed to Caesar, to Caesar 
thou shalt go." It was no hght matter to appeal to Cae- 
sar and have to be sent one or two thousand miles away 
from home, to remain in prison until it suited the Em- 
peror to hear the case. " Thou hast appealed to Caesar, 
to Caesar thou shalt go." All that was lacking now to 
start him on the journey was a suitable vessel landing at 
Caesarea and destined for Eome. 

So, wMe Festus was waiting for such a ship to touch 
at the port of Caesarea, King Agrippa, the other figure in 
that audience of whom I spoke a while ago, comes down 
to Caesarea to make a formal complimentaiy visit to 
Festus. He brings with him his beautiful sister Bernice, 
younger than himself, and of course younger than Dru- 
silla, who was now living in adulterous intercourse with 



KING AGRIPPA. 19l 

Felix, and had been banished with him afar olf into a 
distant land. 

When a prince or an officer of high rank in those 
Asiatic countries visits another, there is a great deal 
of ceremony, with feasting, processions, everything that 
can make the visiting company feel happy; so Festus 
has on his hands now the task of providing splendid 
entertainments day after day for his royal visitors. He 
was conversing with Agrippa privately on one of those days, 
and he says ; "Agrippa, there is a certain man left a pris- 
oner by Felix, about whom, when I was at Jerusalem, 
the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, 
asking for sentence against him, to whom 1 answered that 
it is not the custom of the Eomans to give up any man 
before the accused has the accusers face to face, and has 
had opportunity to make his defense. When his accus- 
ers stood up they brought no charge of such evil things as 
I supposed, but -had certain questions about their own 
demon- worship" (for that is the right rendering of the 
word rendered religion in our version), "and of one 
Jesus, who was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive." 

I want you to notice for a moment or two what light 
this speech throws upon Festus, and the state of his mind. 
Here is a man occupying a very high position in the Ro- 
man empire. He is probably acquainted wath every 
question that could be propounded in regard to Roman 
history, or politics, or war. Jesus Christ has been 
preached in this empire for more than twenty years. 
Churches in his name have been established all over it, 
and in Rome itself a powerful Church had been built 
up ; yet, when this man hears of the dispute between Paul 
and the Jews about Jesus, he speaks of it as a controver- 
sy about "one Jesus " who was dead, and whom Paul af- 
firmed to be alive ; and it seems as if this was the first 



192 SF.R!\TON XV. 

time the poor wretched heathen had ever heard the name 
of Jesus. He knew so httle of either Judaism or Chris- 
tianity that he thought the difference a mere question of 
demon-worship. How do you account for this amazing 
ignorance ? There are some men in the world with whom 
the affairs of State are so important that they can never 
give any attention to reHgion ; there are others who have 
so much property to look after that they have no time to 
consider the interests of their souls ; there are some who 
have to labor so hard to make their bread that they can 
find no time to read the Bible and inform themselves 
about Christ. There are others who have just as much 
on their hands in all these departments as these have, yet 
they become proficient in the knowledge of the truth. 
There are members of Congress and members of the Brit- 
ish Parliament to-day who would not recognize the Lord's 
prayer if they heard it, yet that " grand old man of Eng- 
land," as the people are so fond of calling him, who has 
had more of the affairs of state in hand for the last 
forty years than any of them, is so well posted in the 
knowledge of the Bible and of Christ that he dares to 
enter into combat with the mightiest infidels of Europe or 
America; and he has held his own mth them. Felix be- 
longed to the class who had not had time to think about 
religion, or to learn that there was such a being as Jesus 
being preached all over that empire. 0, how far off he 
is from the kingdom of God ! And Paul knew this full 
well. 

When Festus made these remarks to Agrippa they fell 
upon the ears of a totally different character. Who is he ? 
The great-grand-son of the Herod who slaughtered the 
babes of Bethlehem in the vain effort to kill Jesus in bis 
cradle. The great-nephew of the Herod who murdered 
John the Baptist, and before whom Jesus was mocked 



KING AGKIPPA. 193 

and arrayed in a purple robe. Son of the Herod men- 
tioned in the twelfth of Acts, who murdered the apostle 
James, and attempted to murder Peter, and who died a 
miserable death a few days afterward in Caesarea, where 
Paul was now a prisoner and Agrippa a royal guest. 
Agrippa was a youth seventeen years old when Herod 
died that miserable death. He is now a young man of 
thirty, with the title of King. 

When Festus spoke as he did about '* one Jesus," I 
think that Agrippa must have laughed in his sleeve at the 
poor man's ignorance. How familiar that name was to 
him ! All his life long he had heard Jesus and the 
Church and the apostles spoken about, but he had heard 
all from the lips of men who cursed that name, and 
whose hands were stained with the blood of the friends of 
Jesus. What a surprise it is, then, that Agrippa imme- 
diately said to Festus, " I could wish to hear the man 
myself" — that one of that bloody, persecuting family has 
come to the point of desiring to hear an apostle preach ! 
If a man had predicted it ten years before, he would have 
been set down as a false prophet or a fool. "To-morrow 
thou shalt hear him," says Festus. So, one more day's 
entertainment is now provided for ; and on the next day, 
we are told, Festus, and King Agrippa, and Bernice, and 
the chief captains, and the chief men of Caesarea came to- 
gether into the audience room of the palace, with great 
pomp — Festus in his purple robes. King Agrippa with his 
crown, the beautiful Bernice in all her royal apparel, and 
the military officers arrayed in their uniforms. Never 
did the poor apostle stand before so gorgeous an assem- 
bly before, and perhaps never afterward. When all were 
seated, an officer was sent for the prisoner. 

I have tried often to imagine how Paul felt, and what 
he thought when that officer came into his presence and 

13 



191 SERMON XV. 

said to him, " Paul, King Agrippa has sent for thee, to 
hear thee concerning the faith in Christ." If the messen- 
ger had said, King Agrippa has sent for thee, Paul, that 
he may send yoii headless into eternity after James and 
the others that he and his fathers have murdered, Paul 
would not have been surprised. But, he has sent that 
he might hear thee. If Paul had heard a clap of thun- 
der out of a clear sky, it could not have been more aston- 
ishing to him. What ! shall I be permitted to speak in 
the name of my crucified Master to a Herod ? Shall I 
have a Herod with open ears and open heart listening to 
the Gospel of Christ? 0, is there a possibility of my 
reaching the heart of a Herod with the glorious gospel 
of the blessed God, and winning him to my Saviour ? It 
seems to me that such must have been the thoughts of Paul ; 
and with what a swelling heart he went into that assem- 
bly ! I am not at all surprised that the sermon he deliv- 
ered there is generally regarded by scholars as the great- 
est sermon that he ever preached in his life. He is led 
in. Festus arises. 

" King Agrippa, and all men who are here present with 
us, ye behold this man concerning whom all the multi- 
tude of the Jews have plead with me, both at Jerusalem 
and here, crying out that he ought not to live any longer. 
But I found that he had committed nothing worthy of 
death; and, as he himself appealed to the Emperor, I 
determined to send him ; of whom I have no certain 
thing to write to my Lord. Wherefore I have brought 
him forth before you, and especially before thee. King 
Agrippa, that, after examination, I may have somewhat 
to write ; for it seems to me unreasonable in sending a 
prisoner, not withall to signify the charges against him." 

Such is the predicament the poor ignoramus was in. 
I have a prisoner to be sent two thousand miles to Komc 



KING AGRIPPA. 196 

to be tried, and I can not tell to save my life what charges 
are laid against him ! I do not understand the case well 
enough, and I want some help ; and especially that of King 
Agrippa, because he is an expert in the Jewish faith, and 
he can help me out of the difficulty by telhng me what to 
write. Having delivered himself thus, he sat down. 

Now Agrippa, assuming the position of the moderator 
of the meeting, if we should so speak, says to Paul, " Thou 
art permitted to speak for thyself." As much as to say, 
Go a-head now, and say .what you please. This gave 
Paul a free and open sea in which to set his sails, and 
to direct his course. 

Did you ever notice exactly how he began his dis- 
course ? 

" I think myself happy, King Agrippa, that I am to 
make my defence before thee this day touching all the 
things whereof I am accused by the Jews." And how 
happy he did feel to be permitted to speak to a Herod 
about these things, "especially," he said, "because I 
know thee to be expert in ail questions and customs that 
are among the JeAvs." That was just as much as to say, 
I do not expect to find you so dull and stupid as that man, 
sitting by you— I can't make him understand anything at 
all. Well, Agrippa must have been pleased with these 
the first words he had ever heard from an apostle. By 
expressing his gratification at being allowed to speak of 
these matters before him, Paul partly bridged over the 
gulf between them, and the two were coming a little closer 
together, don't you see '? But now, how will Paul manage 
to open the message of the gospel to such a man ! 

'* My manner of life then from my youth up, which 
was from the beginning among mine own nation, and at 
Jerusalem, know all the Jews ; having knowledge of me 
from the first, if they be willing to testify, how that after 



196 SERMON XV. 

the straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. And 
now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise 
made of God unto our fathers ; unto which j^romise our 
twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope 
to attain ; " and then, looking around upon the heathen 
assembly who did not believe as he and Agrippa did, he 
demands, " Why is it judged incredible with you, if God 
should raise the dead ?" The King and I believe in that 
doctrine. Why did he tell Agrippa that he was a Phar- 
isee, and always had been, believing in the great doctrine 
of the resurrection of the dead ? I think it was because 
Agrippa was a Pharisee, believing in the same doctrine, 
and Paul wants to get close to him. He threw that re- 
mark out as a silken cord to wrap around the king, and 
draw him into sympathy with himself. You and I, King 
Agrippa, stand together against this audience. 

His next remark, "I verily thought with m.yself, that 
I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus 
of Nazareth," is the first time he speaks of Jesus. 
"And this I also did in Jerusalem : and I both shut up 
many of the saints in prisons, having received authority 
from the chief priests, and when they were put to death, 
I gave my vote against them. And punishing them oft- 
entimes in all the synagogues, I strove to make them 
blaspheme ; and being exceedingly mad against them,I per- 
secuted them even unto foreign cities." Why did he tell 
Agrippa about all of that wickedness ? Was it not intended 
to make Agrippa think within himself. Well, that man was 
once with us ? He was once on the side of my father and 
my uncle, and my grand-father. He persecuted those 
people as bitterly and as bloodily as my family did. Such 
reflections were unavoidable : and by exciting them, Paul 
threw another cord of sympathy to draw the king a 
little closer to himself. He is going to win that young 



KING AGRTPPA. 197 

king to Christ if he can. That is what he is aiming at. 
Did he not also intend to raise another question in Agrip- 
pa's mind ? If that man once stood where my father did, 
and uncle and grand-father, what on earth could have 
changed him? What could have caused him to turn 
about and become the great propagator and defender of 
the faith in Christ that I know him to be ? 

Paul's next remark was intended to answer this ques- 
tion, just as if he had heard Agrippa speak it out. He 
thinks he knows what is in the king's mind, and he 
answers the question. "Whereupon as I journeyed to 
Damascus with the authority and commission of the 
chief priests, at midday, king, I saw on the way a 
light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, 
shining round about me and them that journeyed with 
me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard 
a voice saying unto me in the Hebrew language, Saul, 
Saal, why persecutest thou me ? it is hard for thee to 
kick against the goad. And I said. Who art thou. Lord ? 
And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. 
But arise, and stand upon thy feet ; for to this end have 
I appeared unto thee, to appoint thee a minister and a 
witness both of the things wherein thou hast seen me, 
and of the things wherein I will appear unto thee: 
delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, 
unto whom I send thee, to open their eyes, that they 
may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of 
Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins 
and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by 
faith in me. Wherefore, king Agrippa, I was not dis- 
obedient unto the heavenly vision." And did not the 
king's heart say, Well, Paul, if that is true, you ought not 
'to be disobedient to it. If you saw that, and heard 
that, then our family have been mistaken, just as you 



198 SERMON XY. 

were. If this actually occurred, as you relate it, you had 
good cause for changing, and I wonder if we ought not to 
change too. 

Paul uttered but a few more words when he was 
interrupted. Festus was sitting there, listening to this 
speech, and wondering. Not a single ray of Ught had it 
caused to penetrate his darkened understanding. He 
could not see through it at all. So, excited beyond power 
to control himself, he cries out, "Paul, thou art mad: 
thy much learning doth turn thee to madness." Now 
brethren, what a strange thing that an intelligent and 
educated man like Festus, should have listened to such 
a speech and thought it the raving of a madman. "This 
accounts for the fact that all this speech thus far was 
addressed to Agrippa, and not a word intended for 
Festus. Paul saw there was no use in trying to do 
anything with him. Agrippa was the man. The only 
answer that Paul gave to Festus was this: "I am not 
mad, most excellent Festus " (he addressed him "most 
excellent" not because he was so, but because this was 
the customary form of address to men of high rank), 
" but I speak forth words of truth and soberness." He 
tmiis right back to Agrippa: "For the king knoweth of 
these things : unto whom also I speak freely : for I am 
persuaded that none of these things is hidden from him ; 
for this hath not been done in a corner." Don't think, 
Festus, because you are ignorant of it, that it was done 
in a corner. The king knows all about it. And well did 
x\grippa know about it ; only he had heard of it from the 
wrong side. 

I do not know what it was certainly that caused Paul 
just at this moment to change the line of thought, and 
make a personal, direct appeal to Agrippa. I think it 
must have beea something he saw working in his face. 



KING AGRIPPA. 199 

A watchful and thoughtful preacher, with self-control, 
will never make a direct appeal to a particular person in 
his audience, unless he sees evidence that the person is 
ripe for it. I think Paul felt. Now I have my man almost 
in my arms, and one more effort will bring him. He 
says, "King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets?" 
Then he saw the answer in the king's face. " I know that 
thou believest." This makes it uncomfortable to the king. 
He is impelled to speak. This personal appeal to him 
brings forth the expression, "Paul, with but little per- 
suasion thou wouldst fain make me a Christian." Do 
you think you can make me a Christian with just this 
one short speech ? He saw through Paul's design. He 
arose and wrapped his robes about him, and started for 
the door. Bernice followed him. Festus followed, and 
all that gorgeous company, one by one, filed out through 
the door, and left Paul alone with the soldier who guarded 
him. I think Paul's heart sank within him when he was 
thus left alone in that hall. If he had been acquainted 
with our modern songs, this might have come to him : 
" I feel like one who treads alone 
Some banquet hall deserted. 
Whose lights are fled, whose garlands dead, 
And all but me departed." 
Preachers often have such feelings after earnestly plead- 
ing with a congregation of dying men. The preacher sees 
the tears in some one's eyes, the heaving of the chest, and 
that deep earnestness of feeling which makes him sure 
there are some who are going to come to Christ to-night ; 
but when the last amen is pronounced, they march away 
and leave him disappointed. 0, what a sad moment 
for Paul, when, after having the young Herod almost in 
his arms, he loses him, and is led back to his lonely 
prison. 

And now, here is another man on whom the Gospel 



200 SERMON XV. 

failed. 0, what tremendous power was brought to bear 
upon his soul ! How strange the providence that had 
first brought this preacher to Felix, and terrified him ; 
then kept him there till Festus came, and till Agrippa 
came — that caused him to stand before all three, and 
bring to bear upon them the same (rospel power which 
had saved so many other souls, but which fails to save 
them ! 

When they got outside that audience chamber, they 
began to speak to one another. I do not suppose they 
felt like talking at first. The people began to say to one 
another, " That man has not done anything worthy of 
death or of bonds." What brought them to that con- 
clusion? They had had nothing before theii' minds to 
convince them of it except what the apostle said ; but 
there was an air of honesty and earnestness and truth- 
fulness in the words that fell from his lips, and the 
pulsations of a true heart behind them. They are stran- 
gers to him, but they are satisfied that he has done 
nothing worthy of death or of bonds. Agrippa was the 
last man to speak. After all the others had expressed 
themselves, he said, "Festus, this man might have been 
set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar ;" and 
this is in the lips of a Herod ! It was as much as to say, 
Father did wrong in killing such men. Our family have 
been wrong on this question. We ought not to have 
murdered them. We ought not to have imprisoned 
them. That man ought to be set at liberty this day, if 
he had not appealed to Caesar, which makes it necessary 
to send him to Caesar. That near, my dear friends, did 
the Gospel come to saving Agi'ippa. You saw this 
morning how near it came to saving Felix, when it 
terrified him. All that he needed was to give way to 
that terror and throw himself upon the mercy of God. 



KING AGRIPPA. 201 

Both of these men went down to perdition. Both of 
them died without God and without hope. Is there any 
one of you here to-night that has been terrified by the 
judgment scene in connection with your sins ? Is there 
any one here to-night that has been brought as near to 
the kingdom of God as this young king was, so that you 
have felt kindly and friendly to it, and have stopped 
there ? Oh ! let me beg you in Jesus' name not to stop 
where they stopped. If Agrippa, when he heard that 
sermon, had risen to his feet and cast his crown in the 
dust, and taken Paul by the hand, and said, Paul, you 
are right ; our family have been wrong ; you are right ; I 
will confess Jesus and stand by you the remnant of my 
days, what an honor he would have reflected back over 
his own ancestry, and with what a name, honored and 
praised and revered and loved by countless generations, 
he would have come down to posterity. How differently 
he would have passed into the eternal world. Oh sinner, 
take warning, and come now to the arms of mercy which 
are open to receive you. 



SERMON XVI. 



GOD •IS NOT MOCKED. 



Evening July 30, 1893. 



The seventh verse of the sixth chapter of the Epistle 
to the Galatians: 

" Be uot deceived; God is not mocked. For whatsoever 
a man sowetb, that shall be also reap." 

Tliis admonition is given by the Apostle in immediate 
connection with the subject of contributions to the work 
of the Lord. He has just said to the brethren, "Let 
him that is taught in the Word communicate unto him 
that teacheth in all good things." And he says just be- 
low, in the same connection, "As we have opportunity 
let us work that which is good toward all men, and espe- 
cially toward them that are of the household of the faith." 
So, when he says in this connection, "Be not deceived; 
God is not mocked ; for whatsoever a man soweth, that 
shall he also reap," his special aim is to enforce the duty 
of liberality to the cause of Christ, and to the wants of 
the poor; but you will observe that, whilst that is his 
especial object, he draws the conclusion that such is our 
duty toward those who teach, and toward the poor, from 
the universal law governing our whole life here — that 
what we sow, that shall we also reap. This he lays down 
as the universal law of God's government over us, and 
when he says, " Be not deceived " about this, "God is not 
mocked," he means to uaform us that, if we should think 
that we can sow one thing and reap another we would be 

•202 



60D IS NOT -AIOCKEi). 208 

thinking tliat we had the power to mock God — that is, to 
defy him by overriding his plans and arrangements. Men 
are very apt to think they can do that. They do so many 
things by means of their perseverance and determination 
that they are very apt to conclude they can do anything 
they choose, whether it pleases God or not; that they 
can go on trampling God's laws under their feet as long 
as they choose, and still come out well. Paul knew very 
well that men were prone to deceive themselves into such 
an idea as this, and hence he says, "Be not deceived; 
God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that 
shall he also reap." 

Having made this statement, he goes on to another — 
a broad universal statement, growing out of the same 
great fact : "He that soweth to his flesh, shall of the 
flesh reap corruption " ; and, on the other hand, " he that 
soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlast- 
ing." This is God's fixed and unalterable law ; and the 
man who thinks otherwise is deceived, and imagines that 
he can mock God. 

What does the x\postle mean by sowing and reaping, 
in this latter portion of the text? — "he that soweth 
to the flesh " and " he that soweth to the spirit" — what 
is meant by that ? A man does not literally sow to his 
flesh, does not literally sow to his spirit, consequently, 
the word " sow " here is used figuratively. But what does 
a man do when he is literally sowing ? You have all seen 
men at it, and the land of sowing in those days was not 
with a drill machine, but the old style of sowing — broad- 
cast with the hand, the only sowing that was known in 
Asia, and that is known there yet. Have you noticed 
that man going across the field sowing? He puts his 
hand into the bag that is swung over his shoulder, gath- 
ers up a handful of seed, and scatters it to the right, to 



204 SERMON XM. 

the left, and in front, and as he moves on he keeps scat- 
tering it at every step, and leaves a broad swath of it 
stretching out behind him. Now the Apostle contemplates 
every man that lives as doing something which he com- 
pares to that sowing. Every step he takes, he is scat- 
tering something to the right, to the left, and in front, 
and leaving it scattered all along the road behind him. 
What is it ? He has especial reference here to a man's 
money. Well, there are some people who sow money — a 
young spendthrift, for instance, who has plenty of it. But 
all of us sow a good deal of it ; it gets away ; slips through 
our fingers some way, and is scattered all along the road 
that we travel. But money is not all that we sow. Every 
word that drops out of our mouths falls round about us, 
makes an impression, and is left behind us; and every 
deed, every act of our lives — indeed our hfe is made up 
of moments that have been compared to grains of 
gold that we are scattering along our pathway from the 
cradle to the grave. I presume, then, this sowing which 
the Apostle speaks of includes all that we do that has any 
moral character in it — our whole course of life. We are 
sowing, sowing, constantly sowing, and will be till we lie 
down in the grave. 

But what is meant by sowing to the flesh ? I do not 
suppose the Apostle means merely giving money and time 
and energy to feeding the physical man, and furnishing 
it with clothing and drink; in other words, I think the 
word ''flesh" is used figm-atively, as it so often is in the 
Scriptures, for the baser part of our nature — our pas- 
sions and appetites. To sow to the flesh, then, means to 
devote our time, our energies, our words, our money, and 
all that we are scattering along our path, to the gratifica- 
tion of earthly and sensual desires. 

Now the man that sows thus the Apostle says shall 



GOD IS NOT MOCKED. 205 

reap. There is a reaping coming for that man just as 
certain as there is for the man who sows wheat or oats or 
any other grain ; and as he sows, he shall reap. 

What is it that the man shall reap who sows to the 
flesh ? It is a very awful word — corruption ! corruption ! 
You know what corruption is — corruption of the flesh. 
The most hideous thing on this earth to a human being 
is the body of a man when it has gone to corruption. 
If it is the body of the dearest friend we have on earth, 
we desire, in the language of Abraham, to bury it out of 
our sight. He said of his beloved Sarah, "Give me a 
burying place, that I may bury my d6ad out of my sight." 

Well, I think that this word, too, is used figuratively. 
The good man goes to physical corruption when he dies, 
as surely as the bad man does. When the Apostle says, 
'* He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap cor- 
ruption," what corruption does he mean? I think he ap- 
plies the word *' corruption " to the condition of the soul — 
a figurative application of it. But brethren, if a corrupt- 
ed, decayed, putrefied, rotten body is a thing to be ab- 
horred, what must be a putrefied, rotten, corrupted soul ? 
I wish we could realize it. He that sows the actions and 
thoughts and money and energies of his life to the flesh, 
shall reap as his harvest a corrupted soul, is the teaching 
of this passage. If men could be made to believe this, 
they would sow to the flesh no longer ; we would every 
one quit our sowing to the flesh. But why don't we believe 
it when it is in God's word ? Well, we are deceived ; we 
think that we can mock God. We think that we can go 
on in spite of God and sow to the flesh all our days, and 
some way or other escape that eternal corruption. That 
is what men think. If you could only make these wicked 
men who are sowing to the flesh every day — some of them 
most desperately engaged in it — realize that the harvest 



206 SERMON XVI. 

of a corrupt soul will be their harvest bye and bye, every 
one of them would stop it. But they are deceived; they 
think they can mock God. When that hard sinner thinks 
over the question, What will become of me? he says, 
" Well, I have been in a good many tight places, and I 
have gotten through; I may get into a tight place yet 
with God, possibly, but I think there is some way for a 
man to get through, and I am going to trust to my 
chances ; " and so he goes on. He thinks that as he has 
gotten around men, and circumvented and outwitted them, 
and gotten out of every scrape thus far, when he comes to 
get into an entanglement with God he can slip around 
Him some way or other ; thinks he can mock God. Paul 
says he can not do it. " God is not mocked." 

There is one story (or rather a piece of true history) 
related in the book of Kings, (I Kmgs,) which always ap- 
peared to me, since I first came to think of it, as if it were 
written for the very purpose of illustrating this great doc- 
trine of the Apostle. You know he tells us, respecting a 
great many things written in the Old Testament, that they 
happened for examples, and that they were written for our 
admonition on whom the ends of the world have come. 
I think this must be one of them. 

It is a story connected with the history of Ahab, that 
wickedest of all the kings who had reigned over the ten 
tribes down to his day. You recollect that he wanted 
the vmeyard of Naboth, which lay adjoinmg his palace 
grounds, and by which, if he had it, he could extend those 
grounds and make them so much more beautiful and de- 
lightful as a summer residence ; for Jezreel, where he then 
resided, was the seat of his summer palace. The breezes 
from the Mediterranean sweep across a level plam, and 
pass through Jezreel away to the mountains of Gilead, 
and then come back, blowing alternately east and west, 
and giving great relief in the hot season. 



GOD IS NOT MOCKED. 207 

Being disposed to act honestly about it at first, he 
proposed to N a both to buy his vineyard. " I will give 
thee the worth of it in money, or I will give thee a better 
vineyard." Nothing could be fairer than that. But Na- 
both had been born and reared on that little piece of land. 
His father before him, and Jiis father before hiiiiy and 
away back to the time of Joshua, when the land was first 
parcelled out, had lived there, and when he thought of 
parting with it, his love for the old ancestral home took 
fresh possession of his soul, and although it was the liing, 
he said, " God forbid that I should let you have the in- 
heritance of my fathers." No money could buy it. And 
I love Naboth because he so loved the old home. I al- 
ways have a great deal of respect for a man who, when 
he gets able, goes back to where his forefathers lived, and 
buys the old place, and fixes it up. I have been made to 
feel a great deal more respect for old Fred Douglass 
lately, that now he has money, he has gone up in Mary- 
land and bought the old farm that his old master lived 
on when he was a little boy, and is going to spend there 
the remnant of his days. 

Ahab was one of those men who, like a spoiled child, 
can never be satisfied if they do not get what they want. 
So he went home and dropped down on the bed, and 
turned his face toward the wall, and would not eat. I 
would not be surprised if we have farmers in Kentucky 
who desire to buy a certain piece of ground from a neigh- 
bor and can not get it, and are just as childish as Ahab. 
Jezebel comes in, and wants to know what is the matter. 
He tells her. She says, Get up and wash your face and 
eat. You shall have that vineyard. So she sends word 
to the rulers of the city, to proclaim a fast, and set Na- 
both on high before the people, and bring in two men of 
Belial who will swear against him that he had blasphemed 



208 SERMON XVI. 

God and the king, and then to take him out and stone 
him to death. Suppose that you had been one of those 
magistrates, what would you have done ? You would not 
have obeyed the order? Then you would have died; for 
Jezebel would kill any man if he disobeyed her. She 
thought no more of cutting off the head of a man than that 
of a chicken. So those men concluded that rather than die 
for disobedience to the queen, they would execute her 
commands on Naboth, and they did it. When they sent 
word that it was done, she went to the king and told him, 
"Now go up and take possession of the vineyard ; for all 
those that were in your way are dead." Ahab obeyed. 
He was one of those gentlemen who obey their wives. 
They mounted their horses, had some of the chief officers 
of the court with them, and rode into the vineyard; and 
I suppose they were talking about what improvements 
would be made ; where a nice summer-house should be 
built; where the flower-bed should be; and where the 
gravel walk should be; and young Athaliah, Ahab's 
daughter, then about fourteen — what a nice time she and 
her companions w^ould have in these delightful grounds ! 
While this was going on, they turned toward the gate, and 
there was Elijah the prophet walking in. This scared 
Ahab. When he drew up within speaking distance, he said 
to Elijah, " Hast thou found me, my enemy ? " "I have 
found thee. And thus saith the Lord God before whom 
I stand, Dogs shall lick thy blood, even thine, king, 
where they licked the blood of Naboth." He turned on 
his heel and went away. Ahab was so scared that it 
nearly made him sick. 

A few years went on and Ahab got over his scare. A 
great many wicked men reach a point in life when they 
are desperately scared. They do better for awhile, and 
people begin to think they are going to reform and be 



\ GOD IS NOT MOCKED. 209 

good ; but they get over it. Ahab got over it. Not many 
years after this, Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, pro- 
posed and brought about a marriage between his son, 
the young prince Jehoram, and Athaliah, the daughter 
of Ahab. Jehoshaphat came up to visit Ahab, and while 
he was there Ahab spoke to him about the king of Syria 
having taken possession of Eamoth-gilead, a city on the 
other side of the Jordan, and belonging to Ahab's king- 
dom ; and he said to Jehoshaphat, " Wilt thou go over 
with me to Eamoth-gilead and fight against the Syrians, 
and take our ciiy from them ?" Jehoshaphat says, " My 
army is as thine, and I am as thou, and I will go;" but 
he says, Let us enquire of the Lord, whether we will 
prosper if we go. Well, Ahab calls in four hundred 
prophets, and puts the question to them in public, while 
the two kings are sitting on thrones near the gate of 
the city, " Shall we go up to Ramoth-gilead ? And will 
the Lord prosper us ? " And every one of the four hun- 
dred prophets said. Yes. Of course, when a man as 
wicked as Ahab is on the throne, and wants a lot of 
prophets around him to suit him, and has plenty of 
money to give to them, he can always have as many 
of that kind as he wants. Ahab had four hundred, all 
claiming to be prophets of the Lord. One man, Zedekiah, 
fixed up some horns, and put them on himself, and went 
pushing around, and said, " with these shall the king of 
Israel push the king of Syria, and prevail against him." 
But Jehoshaphat, a very good man in his way, a wor- 
shiper of God, was suspicious of all these prophets, and 
he said to Ahab, Is there not yet here another prophet 
of God, whom we may enquire of about this matter? 
Ahab says, Yes, there is another, one Micaiah, but I hate 
him because he always prophesies evil. Nevertheless, 
Bays Jehoshaphat, send for him. An officer was imme- 

14 



210 SERMON XVI. 

diately sent for Micaiah. That officer knew which side 
of his bread was buttered, and he thought he knew just 
exactly what kind of advice to give to the prophet ; so as 
they were walking along to where the kings were sitting 
he said to the prophet, " Micaiah, all the prophets have 
prophesied good for the king. Now do you prophesy good." 
Micaiah answered him, "As the Lord lives, before whom 
I stand, the word that God shall put in my mouth, will 
I give to the king." Micaiah was not a man with an 
india-rubber conscience. When he is brought in, Ahab 
says: "Micaiah, shall we go up to Eamoth-gilead, and 
will the Lord prosper us if we go ? " Micaiah says, " Go ; 
the Lord shall prosper thee." But somehow or other, I 
suppose it was from the tone in which he spoke, Ahab 
took him to mean the very opposite of what he had said, 
80 he said, " How many times shall I exhort thee not to 
tell me any lies in the name of the Lord?" Micaiah 
then opened his mouth again and said : " I saw the Lord 
sitting on his throne, high and lifted up, and all the 
angels round about him. And the Lord said, Who shall 
go forth for me and persuade Ahab to go up to Eamoth- 
gilead and fall there? And one spirit said, I will go. 
The Lord said to that spirit. By what wilt thou persuade 
him? The spirit answered, I will go down and be a 
lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets, and I will per- 
suade him to go up to Ramoth-gilead and fall there." 
Of course, all the crowd understood that Micaiah was 
making a parable here, or an allegory, and he meant by 
it that these prophets were all lying, every one of them, 
and that as sure as Ahab went up to Ramoth-gilead he 
would fall. Ahab understood it that way. So he said 
to the officer, "Take that man into the city and put 
him in prison, and feed him on the bread of affliction 
and the water of affliction, until I come again in peace." 



CrOT) IS NOT MOCKED. 211 

Ar the officer led Micaiah away, he looked back at the 
king and said, " If thou dost return in peace, then the 
Lord has not spoken by me." Ahab knew just as well 
as he knew his name that Micaiah bad spoken a predic- 
tion which he had received from God, and he knew as 
well as Micaiah did, that those other prophets were lying. 
But, did he go to Eamoth-gilead ? Yes, he went. Did 
he think he could mock God? I suppose he did. He 
determined to try it, at any rate. So, when the two 
armies were about to go into battle, he said to King 
Jehoshaphat, You go into battle with your royal robes 
on, and I will go in in disguise. What did he do that 
for ? It may be that somebody who has a special spite 
against me as a king will try to kill me, and that this 
is what Micaiah was counting on, and God was counting 
on, when they said I would fall in this battle. I will 
go in in disguise, and I wiU make it a point to keep in 
a safe place, and to go through the battle without being 
killed. He was determined not to be killed in that 
battle. 

There was a very curious thing going on in the 
Syrian army just at the same time, just before that 
battle. Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, had a personal 
dislike for Ahab. So he caUed the thirty commanders 
of the different divisions of his army into a council of 
war, and gave them this command — "In this battle, 
fight not against any man except the king of Israel;" 
so when that battle was joined, there were thirty men 
on the opposite side commanded to hunt out and 
kill the king of Israel, and not to fight anybody else until 
they killed him. Now, if Ben-Hadad had known what 
Micaiah had prophesied, and what Elijah had proph- 
esied, about the fate of Ahab, and was anxious that 
God's prophesies should be true, he could not have done 



212 SERMON XVI. 

anything, to save his Hfe, better calculated to help God 
out, than this command to the thiity captains. Those 
thirty captains saw the crest of a king and made a rush 
for him; but he made some kind of an outcry, I suppose 
calling his men to rally around him, and they discov- 
ered that it was Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, so they 
stopped and turned away, because the king had told 
them not to fight anybody but Ahab. And when the 
battle was over, and they were called before their king, 
and he said, "Did you kill Ahab ?" what do you sup- 
pose was their answer ? I judge they would have to say, 
0, king, we obeyed thy command. We hunted around 
and looked for a king, and when we found one, we made 
a rush for him, but it was the wrong king ; we pushed 
into the thickest of the fight, but if Ahab was in the 
army, we could not find him. So we failed. What did 
that show? That God did not want the help of those 
thirty men. But did x\hab escape ? No. A soldier in 
the Syrian army drew his bow, and let fly the arrow 
without taking aim at anybody in particular, and that 
very arrow passed between the joints of the armor of 
Ahab, and passed through his body as he stood in his 
chariot. He bravely stood his ground until the battle 
was over, saying to the charioteer. Bear me up ; hold me 
up ; so that his men might not see him fall and be panic- 
stricken. But when the battle was over, and his men, 
returning, came near the palace, just opposite the vine- 
yard of Naboth, where there was a pool of water, they 
took his body out and washed the blood out of the 
chariot, and the dogs ate it where they had eaten the 
blood of Naboth. And thus it was proved that God 
could not be mocked. He could guide an arrow that 
was shot without aim, and He did not need the help of 
the thirty warriors of the enemy's forces. He did not 



GOD IS NOT MOCKED. ^Ig 

need Aliab's royal crest upon his head to guide that 
arrow to the right man. " God is not mocked." When 
He says a thing shall be done, it will be done. 

Now, then, it was in view of such facts as these, of which 
Paul's mind was full in the experiences and history of the 
past, as well as full of the enlightening Spirit of the liv- 
ing God, that he said to men who are sowing to the flesh 
and think there is some way to escape the reaping of 
eternal corruption, " Be not deceived ; God is not mocked." 
It will come ; sure as the throne of God shall stand, his 
decrees will stand fast. Do not deceive yourselves into the 
idea that you can circumvent and outwit the Almighty. 
Is there any man here to-night who has been sowing to 
the flesh ? Just as sure as the past has been what it has, 
the future will be what is here declared, unless there is an 
end to that sowing. 

Thanks be to God that through the provision of the 
gospel of the grace of God, and through it alone, a man 
who has been sowing to the flesh a certain period of his life 
may escape reaping corruption by the mercy and love of 
God, who forgives the past and delivers us from it; but 
this deliverance can be obtained only by ceasing to do 
wrong, learning to do well, and casting yourselves in good 
time upon the mercy of your God. Will you do that, and 
will you do it to-night ? That is the question to which all 
I have said has brought me, and has brought you ; and it 
is the only thing that gives meaning and value to the facte 
which I have laid before you. 

There is another thing in this passage for us to thank. 
God for. While it is true and unalterable that he who 
sows to the flesh shall reap corruption, it is equally true 
that he who sows to the spirit shall reap life eternal. God 
is not mocked on either side. All the demons in hell, and 
all the wicked men on earth, and all the angels in heaven, 



214 sEftMON xvi. 

if they should undertake the ruin of a man, could not pre- 
vent one who has sown to the spirit from reaping life eter- 
nal. So, are you sowing to the spirit? Go on rejoicing 
every day, and hope with a sure hope for everlasting life 
at the end of your time and your labor. Are you sowing 
to the flesh ? Turn right about, and begin this very night 
sowing to the spirit, devoting your time, your money, your 
energies, your all, to the cultivation of your spiritual 
nature, so that eternal life may be the harvest you shall 
reap. 



^ 



SEKMON XVII. 



DIVINE PROVIDENCE: JOSEPH. 



MoENiNG August 20, 1893. 



I will read verses four to eight in the forty-fifth 
chapter of Genesis: 

" I am Joseph, jour brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 
Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, 
that ye sold me hither ; for God did send me before you to 
preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been 
in the land ; and yet there are live years in the which there 
shall neither be sowing nor harvest. And God sent me 
before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to 
gave your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not 
you that sent me hither, but God." 

The story of Joseph is one of those undying narra- 
tives which have been of deepest interest to all readers 
for more than three thousand years, and will be to the 
end of time. It is interesting to children, to simple- 
minded people who understand it the least; and it is 
still more interesting to profound scholars, who under- 
stand it the best. It occupies a larger space in the Old 
Testament than any other personal narrative, except 
that of Abraham; and have you never wondered why 
this simple story was allowed so much space ? Whether 
there was any design in it beyond that of entertaining 
and interesting the reader, as a novel or a fine poem 
entertains and interests us? And have you never, in 
studying the story, wondered why Joseph, after he 
became Governor over Egypt and had command of his 

215 



216 SERMON XVII. 

own time, spent the whole seven years of plenty and two 
years of famine without going to see his father, who lived 
only two hundred miles away over a smooth road ? And 
finally, has not the question occurred to you, Why did 
God select to be the heads of ten of the twelve tribes of 
His own people, ten men who were so cruel, so inhuman 
as to take their seventeen year old brother and sell him 
into bondage in a foreign land ? The task that I have 
undertaken in the discourse this morning, will be to give, 
as well as I can, an answer to these three questions, and 
in doing so, to point out a striking example of the provi- 
dence of God. 

In regard to the design of allowing this story to 
occupy so much space, I think I may safely say that 
there is nothing recorded in this Holy Book, which has 
no higher purpose than to entertain and interest the 
reader. There is always in the divine mind something 
beyond and higher than that. If you will read a little 
further back in the book of Genesis, you will find that 
on a certain occasion, God, after having promised Abra- 
ham again and again that he should have offspring who 
would inherit the land of Canaan as then- possession, 
commanded him one day to slaughter some animals and 
lay them in two rows. He did so, and seeing that the 
birds of prey were gathering to devour them, he stood 
guard and drove them away until night came, and they 
went to roost. Then he also feU asleep, and " a horror 
of great darkness " fell upon him. I suppose it was a 
terrible nightmare. He then heard the voice of God 
saying to him, " Thy seed shall be strangers in a land 
that is not theirs, and they shall be afflicted four hun- 
dred years. After that, I will judge the nation by whom 
they shall be afflicted, and bring them out, and bring 
them into this land, and give it to them as an inherit- 



mviNK providence: Joseph. 217 



that it is to be four hundred years, and more, before his 
people will inherit this promised land, and that they 
shall pass, in the meantii 'e, through four hundred years 
of bondage and fearful a iiction ; but that then the good 
word of the Lord will be I ifilled. It gave him a totally 
different view of those prc::nises, from that which he had 
entertained before. 

We learn by the subsequent history, what Abraham 
never did learn, that the foreign land in which his 
people were to be bondmen, was Egypt; and that a 
removal of his posterity to that land was necessary to 
the fulfillment of Jehovah's words. He lived and died, 
however, in Canaan. His son Isaac lived one hundred 
and eighty years, and died and left his children, his ser- 
vants and his flocks and herds, still in Canaan. Jacob, 
although he had spent forty years in Paddan-Aram, 
still lived in Canaan with his twelve sons and his flocks 
and herds ; and up to the very hour when his sons came 
back from Egypt the second time, and said, " Joseph is 
alive, and is governor over all Egypt," and he saw a 
long line of wagons coming up and bringing the warm 
invitation of Pharaoh and Joseph to hasten down and 
make their home in Egypt — up to that hour he had 
never entertained the idea of migrating to Egypt. He 
as little thought of it as we do of migrating to the 
moon. What then was it that brought about, after so 
many years, that migration of the descendants of Abra- 
ham into Egypt, and led to the four hundred years of 
bondage ? You are ready to answer, that the immediate 
cause of it was the fact that Joseph, the son of Jacob, 
was now governor over all Egypt, and wanted his father 
and his brothers to be with him. That is true. But, 
how had Joseph happened to be governor over all the 



'218 SEmrox XVII. 

land of Egypt ? You say, the immediate cause of it was, 
that when he predicted the seven years of plenty and the 
seven years of famine, he proposed to the king that a 
man be selected to go out and gather up grain during 
the years of plenty, to save the people from starving in 
the years of famine; and that Pharaoh had the good 
sense to accept the proposal, and to appoint Joseph 
governor. But then, how is it that .Foseph predicted 
that famine? You say it was the interpretation of 
Pharaoh's dream ; and so it was. But how did he hap- 
pen to interpret that dream ? You say, because all the 
magicians of Egypt had been called on to interpret it, 
and had failed. They not only could not see the real 
meaning of it, but they did not venture a supposition as 
to what it meant. A dream in which a man saw fat 
cows coming up out of a river ! The idea of cow^s coming 
up out of a river ! And then, other cows, lean cows, 
coming up out of the same river, and devouring these 
fat cows, and looking just as lean and thin as they were 
before ! Why, that went outside of all the rules for inter- 
preting dreams that the dream interpreters of that age 
had invented ; and they could not give the remotest sug- 
gestion as to what it meant. The failure of the magicians 
then, was one necessary cause of Joseph being called on to 
interpret the dream. And then, how did Joseph happen 
to be called on? If that butler had not forgotten 
his promise to Joseph, made two years before, to speak 
to the king and have Joseph released out of an impris- 
onment which was unjust, Joseph would have been re- 
leased most likely, and might have been anywhere else 
by this time than in the land of Egypt. The forget- 
fulness of the butler, who forgot his friend when it was 
well with himself, was a necessary link in the chain. 
He says, when all the magicians had failed, "I remember 



DIVINE PKOVIDENCE : JOSEPH. 219 

now my fault;" and he told the king about a young 
Hebrew whom he met in prison, who interpreted his 
dream and the baker's, and both came to pass ; " Me he 
restored to my office, and the chief baker he hanged." 
The king immediately sent for Joseph. But how did 
he happen to interpret the dreams of the butler and the 
baker? That depended upon theu' having the dreams, 
and upon their having those dreams in the prison, and 
upon Joseph being the man who had charge of the pris- 
oners, and who, coming in and finding the two great 
officers of the king looking very sad, asked what was the 
matter. But how did Joseph happen to have the control 
of the prisoners, so as to have access to these officers 7 
Why, that depended upon the fact that he had behaved 
himself so well in prison as to win the confidence 
of the keeper of the jail, and had been promoted, until 
the management of the whole prison was placed in his 
hands. Well, how did Joseph happen to be in prison? 
Why, you will say that the wife of Potiphar made a false 
accusation against him. But have you not wondered 
why Potiphar did not kill him? An average Kentuckian 
would have done it instanter. I think it depended upon 
the fact that Potiphar knew his wife well and knew 
Joseph well, and had about as much confidence in 
Joseph's denial as in her accusation. And how did it 
happen that she had a chance to bring such accusations 
against Joseph? Why, because Joseph had won the 
confidence of his master as a young slave, till he had 
made him supreme director of everything inside of his 
house. He had access to every apartment, and provided 
for his master's table, so that the text tells us there was 
nothing inside of his house that Potiphar knew of, except 
the food on his table. It was this that gave the oppor- 
tunity to the bad woman. But then I ask further, How 



220 SERMON XVII. 

did Joseph happen to be there a house-boy in the house 
of Potiphar ? Well, he bought him. He wanted a house- 
boy, and went down to the slave market, and found him 
there and bought him. How did he happen to be in the 
slave market? Because his brothers sold him. But 
suppose he had never been sold into Egypt ! Would he 
ever have interpreted dreams ? Would he ever have been 
governor of Egypt? Would he ever have sent for his 
father and brothers to come down there ? But how did 
he happen to be sold as a slave ? If those traders had 
been fifteen minutes later passing along, Eeuben would 
have taken the boy up and let him loose, and he would 
have gone back to his father. Everything depended on 
that. But how did he happen to be in that pit from 
which Reuben was going to deliver him ? You say they 
saw him coming from home to where they were grazing 
their flocks, and they remembered those dreams. They 
said, "Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now there- 
fore, let us slay him and cast him into one of the pits." 
Then they would see what would become of his dreams. 
Dissuaded by Reuben from killing him outright, they put 
him in a pit to die. It was their jealousy that caused 
them to put him into the pit. But then, how is it that 
those dreams had excited their jealousy to such a pitch? 
I do not suppose that they would, if they had not already 
been jealous because of the coat of many colors. Now 
we have traced these causes back from one to the other, 
back, back, back, till we have reached the source of all 
in the partiality of the old father in giving the coat of 
many colors. And brethren, let me say here by way 
of digression, that the history of many a family trouble, 
with its trials and alienations and distresses, running 
sometimes through generations, is traceable to jealousy 
springing from parental partiality. But now, every one 



DIVINE PROVIDENCE '. JOSEPH. 221 

of these causes that I have mentioned stands like a link 
in the long chain by which God, having determined that 
these Hebrews should dwell in Egypt for four hundred 
years, after predicting it two hundred years before, draws 
them down where He wants them to be. 

And what are the links in this chain ? Some of them 
are desperately wicked deeds; some of them are good 
deeds. The fidelity of Joseph ; sold to be a slave, but 
evidently sayiug within himself, As I have to be the slave 
of this man, I will be the best slave he has. I will be 
the most faithful one. I will win his confidence. I will 
do my (luty like a man. And thus he rises. And then 
the same kind of fidelity when he is cast into prison. 
As I have to be in prison, I will be the best prisoner in 
this jail. I will do what I ought to do here in the fear 
of my God. Thus he rises to the top again ; illustrating 
the fact, and I wish I had young men in abundance to 
speak this to — that a young man who has true character, 
unfaltering fidelity, and some degree of energy and abil- 
ity, can not be kept down in this world. You may put 
him down, but he will rise again. You may put him 
down again and again ; but he will come up. A young 
man like that, is like a cork; you may press it under 
the water, but it will soon pop up again. Oh that the 
young men of our country had such integrity, such 
power to resist temptation, such resolution and perse- 
verance, as this Jewish youth had. 

So then, this long story is told as an illustration of 
the providence of God, by which He can bring about His 
purposes without the intervention of miraculous power 
except here and there ; for in all this long chain of causes 
God touched the links only twice, directly : once, when 
He gave power to Joseph to interpret the dreams of the 
butler and the baker, and once when He gave him power 



222 SERMON XVII. 

to interpret the dream of Pharaoh. Just those two in- 
stances in which the finger of God touched the chain; 
all the rest were the most natural things in the world, 
and they brought about God's design just as effectively 
as though He had wrought one great miracle to trans- 
late Jacob and his children through the air, and plant 
them on the soil of Egypt. The man who studies the 
story of Joseph and does not see this in it, has failed 
to see one of its great purposes. And what is true in 
bringing about this result in the family of Jacob, may 
be true — I venture to say, it is true — in regard to every 
family of any importance in this world ; and it extends 
down to the modes by which God overrules our own acts, 
both good and bad, and those of our friends, and brings 
us out at the end of om* lives shaped and molded as he 
desires we shall be. 

Now let us look for a moment at the second question. 
Why did Joseph not go and see his father and his broth- 
ers during the nine years in which he could have gone 
almost any day ? I think that when we reach the an- 
swer we will see another and perhaps a more valuable 
illustration of the providence of God. In order to un- 
derstand the motives which actuate men under given 
circumstances, we must put ourselves in their places and 
judge of them by the way that we would ourselves feel 
and act ; for human nature is the same the wide world 
over, and in all the different nations of men. Suppose 
then, that you were a boy of seventeen. Your brothers 
have all been away from home, sixty or seventy miles, 
with the flocks, until your father has become anxious 
about them, and sends you up to see how they do. You 
go, as Joseph did, but you fail to find them. While you 
search you meet a stranger who tells you they are gone 
to Dothan, fourteen or fifteen miles farther awav. With 



DIVINE PROA'IDENCE : JOSEPH. 223 

this news Joseph continued his journey, and how his 
heart leaped at last to see his brothers again ! How 
glad a welcome he expected from them, and inquiries 
about home, and father, and all. But when he came up, 
he saw a scowl upon every face. Instead of welcoming, 
they seized him, and with rough hands stripped the coat 
from his back, dragged him to the mouth of a dry cistern, 
and let him down in it. " Now we will see what will be- 
come of his dreams." 

How did the boy then feel ? I have thought that per- 
haps he said to himself, My brothers are only trying 
to scare me. They are just playing a cruel joke on me, 
and don't mean to leave me here to perish. But per- 
haps he had begun to think they were in earnest, when 
he heard footsteps above, and voices. He sees one of 
their faces looking down, and a rope to draw him up, and 
he thinks the cruel joke is over. But when he is drawn 
up and sees those strangers there, and hears words about 
the sale of the boy, and his hands are tied behind him, 
and he is delivered into their hands, and they start off 
with him, what would you have thought or felt then ? If 
the thought had come into his mind that it was another 
joke, he might have watched as the merchants passed 
down the road, on every rising piece of ground he might 
have looked back to see if his brothers were coming to 
buy him back again, and to get through with this terrible 
joke; but when the whole day's journey was passed, and 
they went into camp at night, and the same the next 
day, no brothers have overtaken him, what must have 
been his feelings ? When he thought, I am a slave, and 
I am being carried away into a foreign land to spend the 
rest of my life as a slave, never to see father and home 
again, who can imagine his feelings ? So he was brought 
down into Egypt and sold. 



224 SEEMOX XVII. 

But it seems to me that Joseph must have had one 
thought to bear him up, at least for a time. My father 
loves me. He loves me more than he does all my broth- 
ers. He is a rich man. When he hears that I have 
been sold into Egypt, he will send one hundred men, if 
need be, to hunt me up ; he will load them with money 
to buy me back. I trust in my father for deliverance yet. 
But he is sold into the house of Pharaoh, and years 
pass by. He is cruelly cast into prison, and years pass 
by, until thirteen long years of darkness and gloom and 
sorrow and pain have gone, and he has never heard of 
his father sending for him. He could have done it. It 
would have been easy to do. And now, how does he feel 
toward his brothers and toward his father ? Would you 
have wanted to see those brothers again ? And when he 
found his father had never sent for him, knowing, per- 
haps, how penurious and avaricious his father had been 
in his younger days, may he not have said, The old 
avaricious spirit of my father has come back on him 
in his declining years, and he loves his money more than 
he loves his boy ? And when that feeling took possession 
of him, did he want to see his father any more ? Or any 
of them ? Could he bear the thought of ever seeing those 
brothers again ? And could he at last bear the thought 
of seeing that father who had allowed him to perish, as 
it were, without stretching out a hand to help him ? The 
way he did feel is seen in one little circumstance. When 
he was married and had his first-born son placed before 
him, he named him Manasseh, forgetfulness, ''Because," 
he says, "God has enabled me to forget my father's 
house." The remembrance of home and brothers and 
father had been a source of constant pain to him ; he 
never could think of them without agony of heart ; but 
now, thank God, I have forgotten them. Oh, brethren, 



mviNE proa^dence: Joseph. 225 

what a terrible experience a boy must have before he 
feels a sense of relief and gladness that he has been 
enabled to forget all about his father and his brothers 
in his early home ! That is the way Joseph felt when 
Manasseh was born. And would not you have felt so, 
too? 

Everything was going on more pleasantly than he 
thought it ever could, with him — riches, honor, wife, 
children; everything that could delight the heart of 
a wise and good man — when suddenly, one day his 
steward comes in and tells him that there are ten for- 
eigners who desire to buy some grain. He had a rule 
that all foreigners must be brought before him be- 
fore they were allowed to buy grain. Bring them in. 
They were brought in, and behold, there are his 
brothers ! There are his brothers ! And as they ap- 
proach, they bow down before him. Of course, they 
could not recognize him, dressed in the Egyptian style — 
governor of Egypt. Even if he had looked like Joseph, 
it would only have been a strange thing with them to 
say. He resembles our brother Joseph. There they are. 
It was a surprising sight to him and a painful one. He 
instantly determines to treat them in such a way that 
they will never come back to Egypt again. He says, 
"Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are 
come." "No," they say, "we are come to buy food; 
we are all the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. 
We are twelve brothers. The youngest is with our 
father, and one is not." 

That remark about the youngest awakened a new 
thought in Joseph, Oh how it brought back the sad 
hour when his own mother, dying on the way that 
they were journeying, left that little Benjamin, his only 
full brother, in the hands of the weeping father ! And 



226 ser:mon xvn. 

bow it reminded him, that when he was sold Benjamin 
was a little lad at home. He is my own mother's child. 
Instantly he resolves that Benjamin shall be here with 
him in Egypt, and that these others shall be scared 
away, so that they \^ill never come back again; so he 
says, " Send one of yon, and let him bring your brother, 
that your words may be proved, or else by the life of 
Pharaoh ye are spies." He cast them aU into prison ; 
but on the third day he went to them and said: *'I fear 
God; if ye be true men let one of j^ou be bound in 
prison, and let the others go and carry food for your 
houses ; and bring your youngest brother to me ; so shall 
your words be verified, and ye shall not die." When he 
said that, they began to confess to oue another their be- 
lief about the providential cause of tliis distress, when 
Keuben made a speech that brought a revelation to 
Joseph. He said to his brethren, " Spake I not unto 
you, saying, Do not sin against the child ; and ye would 
not hear. Therefore, behold his blood is required." 
Joseph learns for the first time that Eenben had befriend- 
ed him, and this so touched his heart that he turned 
aside to weep. He passes by Eeuben and takes the next 
to the oldest for the prisoner. 

He now gave the dhections to his steward to sell 
them the grain ; and why did he order the money to be 
tied up in the mouth of every man's sack? They were 
once so mean and avaricious that they sold me for fifteen 
petty pieces of silver. I will put their silver in the 
mouths of their sacks, and I will see if they are as dishon- 
est as they were then. If they are, I will never hear of 
that money again. Not many merchants in these days, 
if you go in and buy ten dollars' worth of goods, will wrap 
the ten dollars in the bundle to see if it will come back. 
I will see, thought Joseph, if they are honest. 



DIVINE providence: JOSEPH. 227 

Time went on — a good deal more than Joseph expect- 
ed, on account of the unwilHngness of Jacob to let Benja- 
man make the journey. But finally the news is brought 
that these ten Canaanites have returned. They are 
brought once more into his presence, and there is Benja- 
man. They still call him the *' little one" and "the 
lad ; " just as I have had mothers to introduce me to 
'* the baby," and the baby would be a strapping fellow 
six feet high. There he is. '*Is this your youngest 
brother of whom you* spoke ? " He waits not for an 
answer, but exclaims, " God be gracious unto thee, my 
son." He slips away into another room to weep. How 
near he is now to carrying out his plan — to having that 
dear brother, who had never harmed him, to enjoy his 
honors and riches and glory, and get rid of the others. 
He has them to dine in his house. That scared them. 
To dine with the governor ! They could not conceive 
what it meant. Joseph knew. He had his plan formed. 
He wanted them there to give them a chance to steal 
something out of the dining-room. They enjoyed the 
dinner. They had never seen before so rich a table. 
He says to the steward, ''Fill the men's sacks with food ; 
put every man's money in his sack's mouth, and put my 
silver cup in the sack's mouth of the youngest." It was 
done, and at daylight next morning they were on their jour- 
ney home. They were not far on the way when the stew- 
ard overtook them, with the demand, *' Why have ye 
re\yarded evil for good ? Is it not this in which my Lord 
drinketh, and wherewith he divineth? Ye have done 
evil in so doing." They answeiied, " God forbid that thy 
servants should do such a thing. Search, and if it be 
found with any one of us, let him die, and the rest of us 
will be your bondmen." " No," says the steward, " he 
with whom it is found shall be my bondman, and ye shall 



228 SERMON XVJT. 

be blameless." He begins his search with Eeuben's sack. 
It is not there. Then one by one he takes down the sacks 
of the others, until he reaches Benjamin's. There is the 
cup ! They all rend their clothes ; and when the steward 
starts back with Benjamin, they follow him. They are 
frightened almost to death, but the steward can not get 
rid of them. Joseph was on the lookout for the steward 
and Benjamin. Yonder they come, but behind them are 
all the ten. What shall now be done ? They come in 
and fall down before him once more, and say, " We are 
thy bondmen. God has found out om- iniquity." "No," 
he says, *' the man in whose hand the cup is found shall 
be my bondman ; but as for j^ou, get you up in peace to 
your father." 

Joseph thought that his plan was a success. They 
will be glad to go m peace. I will soon have it all right 
with Benjamin. They will hereafter send somebody else 
to buy then- grain. But Judah arose, drew near, and 
begged the pri^dlege of speaking a word. He recites the 
incidents of then* first visit, and speaks of the difficulty 
with which they had induced their father to let Benjamin 
come. He quotes from his father these words: "Ye 
know that my wife bore me two sons ; one of them went 
out from me, and I said surely he is torn in pieces ; and 
I have not seen him since. If ye take this one also from 
me and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my grey 
hau's with sorrow to the grave." He closes with the 
proposal, " Let thy servant, I pray thee, abide instead of 
the lad, a bondman to my lord, and let the lad go up 
with his brethren." Here was a revelation to Joseph — 
two of them. First, I have been blaming my old father 
for these twenty-two years because he did not send down 
into Egypt and hunt me up, and buy me out, and take 
me home; and now 1 see I have been blaming hmi un- 



DIVINE providence: JOSEPH. 229 

justly, for he thought I was dead — that some wild beast 
had torn me in pieces. what self-reproach, and what 
a revival of love for his old father ! And here, again, I 
have been trying to drive these brothers away from me, 
as unworthy of any countenance on my part, or even an 
acquaintance with them ; but what a change has come 
over them ! The very men that once sold me for fifteen 
paltry pieces of silver, are now willing to be slaves them- 
selves, rather than see their youngest brother made a 
slave, even when he appears to be guilty of stealing. 
What a change ! Immediately all of his old affection for 
them takes possession of him, and with these two revela- 
tions flashing upon him, it is not surprising that he broke 
out into loud weeping. He weeps, and falls upon his 
brothers' necks. He says, " I am Joseph." A thought 
flashes through his mind, never conceived before, and 
he says, " Be not grieved, or angry with yourselves that 
ye sold me hither." He sees now God's hand all 
through this strange, sad experience, and using a He- 
braism, he says, " It was not you that sent me hither, 
but God; God did send me before to preserve life." When 
he w^as a bondman in Potiphar's house, he did not see 
God's hand in the matter. When he was a prisoner 
there in the prison, he did not see God's hand. I suppose 
he thought that it was all of the devil ; but now that he 
has gotten to the end of the vista and looks back, he sees 
it is God who has done it. He sees in part what we saw 
in the first part of this discourse. 0, my friends, many 
times when you shall have passed through deep waters 
that almost overwhelm you, and shall have felt alienated 
from all the friends you had on earth, thinking that they 
had deserted you, wait a little longer, and you will look 
up and say it was God ; it was the working of grand, 
glorious, and blessed purposes that he had in his mind 
concerning you. 



280 SERMON XVII. 

The last question we can dispose of now very quickly, 
because it has been almost entirely anticipated. Why 
did God select ten men to be the heads of ten tribes 
of his chosen people, who were so base as to sell 
their brother ? 0, my brethren, it was not the ten who 
sold their brother that God selected, but the ten who were 
willing to be slaves instead of their brother. These are 
the ten that he chose. If you and I shall get to heaven, 
why will God admit us there ? Not because of what we 
once were, but because of what He shall have made out of 
us by His dealings with us. He had his mind on the out- 
come, and not on the beginning. If you and I had to be 
judged by what we were at one time, there would be no 
hope for us. I am glad to know that my chances for the 
approval of the Almighty are based on what I hope to be, 
and not on what I am. Thank God for that ! 

And they were worthy. Not many men who, when 
the youngest brother of the family was clearly guilty of 
stealing, and was about to be made a slave, would say, 
** Let me be the slave, and let him go home to his father ? " 
Not many. And what had brought about the wondrous 
change which they had undergone ? Ah, here we have 
the other illustration of God's providential government to 
which I have alluded. When these men held up the 
bloody coat before their father, and said, " This we have 
found : know now whether it is thy son's coat or not," 
they entered into an experience of which they had not 
dreamed. There they stood, guilty and helpless before 
their grief- stricken father, knowing that Joseph was not 
dead, as he supposed, but not able to tell him so because 
the truth would be still more distressing than the fiction. 
What father would not rather a thousand times over that 
one of his sons should be dead, than that one of them 
should be kidnapped and sold into foreign bondage by the 



DIVINE PROVIDENCE ! JOSEPH. 231 

others? If their father's grief wai5 inconsolable, their 
own remorse was intolerable. For twenty-two long years 
they writhed under it, and there is no wonder that thon 
they should prefer foreign bondage themselves rather than 
to witness a renewal of their father's anguish. The same 
chain of providence which brought them unexpectedly 
into Egypt, had fitted them for the high honors which 
were yet to crown their names. 

Is there a poor sinner here to-day, whom God has dis- 
ciplined, whether less or more severely than he did these 
men, and brought you to repentance ? If so, the kind Re- 
deemer whom you rejected, and sold, as it were, to stran- 
gers, stands ready to forgive you more completely and 
perfectly than Joseph forgave his brethren. He has found 
out your iniquity ; he knows it all ; but he died that he 
might be able to forgive you. Come in his appointed 
way; come guilty and trembling, as Joseph's brothers 
came, and you will find his everlasting arms around you. 



SERMON XVIII. 



DIVINE PROVIDENCE: QUEEN ESTHER. 
Evening August 20, 1893. 



[The fourth chapter of Esther was read before the 
prayer.] 

I read now, once more, the last message sent by Mor- 
decai to Esther : 

"Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the 
king's house, more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether 
holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement 
and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place ; but 
thou and thy father's house shalt be destroyed: and who 
knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for auch a 
time as this? " 

If the house of Jacob was about to perish with hunger 
when the providence of God in the career of Joseph, as 
we pointed out this morning, came to their rehef, and by 
that singular and long chain of providence, God saved them 
from perishing, the descendants of the same family were 
in still more imminent peril at the time of which I have 
read. Ahasuerus, as he is called here, is the same king 
who is called Xerxes by the Greeks. His name, as 
spelled in the ancient Persian letters, is a long row of con- 
sonants — about eight or ten consonants strung together, 
utterly unpronouncable by an English tongue. The 
Greeks, in making a staggering effort to spell it in their 
language, got it Xerxes, and the Hebrew got it Ahasuerus ; 
and one is about as near the real Persian name as the 
other. He is the king, you recollect, who led into Europe 

232 



DIVINE PROVIDENCE '. QUEEN ESTHER. 233 

the largest army that ever marched to battle; and it is 
supposed that the events in the career of Esther trans- 
pired after his return from that great expedition. His 
kingdom extended over one hundred and twenty prov- 
inces, including the whole of Asia that was then known, 
reaching out to the vicinity of modern China ; and within 
that dominion at that time lived all the Jews, every one 
of them. A man by the name of Haman, as you well 
remember, had become so great a favorite with the king 
that he not only made him his prime minister, elevating 
him above all his princes, but issued a decree that every 
subject of his realm should do obeisance by bending the 
knee when Haman should pass by. There was a venera- 
ble Jew, doubtless a man of wealth and power and distinc- 
tion, by the name of Mordecai, who sat at the King's gate 
— this expression indicating that he was one of the 
attendants about the royal palace, something of a cour- 
tier. For some reason, unexplained, Mordecai refused to 
bow the knee, or to do any act of obeisance to Haman. 
I do not know why, unless it was that he knew the man, 
and being a proud, self-reliant man, he preferred to risk 
the king's displeasure, and any penalty that might be laid 
upon him, rather than bow the knee to a hypocrite and 
a scoundrel. I don't know whether he did right or not, but 
somehow or other I honor a man of such iron nerve as 
that. Haman had not noticed the fact, so full was his 
eye of all the crowd that were bowing around him as he 
passed along, until some one called his attention to it, 
and told him that Mordecai was a Jew. As soon as he 
learned the fact, and learned that Mordecai was a Jew, 
we are told that he dismissed the idea of taking vengeance 
on one man, and resolved that he would have every Jew on 
earth put to death for that insult. I have known men,when 
a negro would insult them, to wish every negro on earth 



284 SERMON xvin. 

in the grave ; or, if enraged by an Irishman, they curse 
all the Irish in the world ; or, if it was a Jew, they would 
wish like Haman that all the Jews vrere dead. I hardly 
think that any one of these men, if the power were put in 
their hands to carry out such a wish, would reaUy execute 
it. Not so with Haman. His spmt of revenge, his pride, 
his arrogance, were so enormous that he actually deter- 
mined that for the insult of this one Jew he would kill 
every Jew% man, woman, and child, that breathed the 
breath of life in the whole earth. If Mordecai knew^ be- 
forehand that he was a man of that sph-it, I think he did 
right not to bend the knee to him. So, going in to the 
King, he says: "0 King, there is a people in thy realm, 
scattered throughout aU of thy provinces, who despise 
thy laws, and it is not good for thy kingdom that they 
should live. Now, send forth a decree wliich, accordmg 
to the laws of the Medes and Persians can not be reversed, 
that they shall all be put to death, and I wiU put ten 
thousand talents of silver into the King's treasmwto exe- 
cute this business." The King said, "Here is my ring; 
take it; issue the decree." Those Persian kings did not 
stop to consider human life. The only question was, 
What is the interest of my dominion ; of my reign ; of my 
authority over this portion of the earth which I control? 
The decree was issued. Scribes were called in ; it was 
written out in all the different languages of the one hun- 
dred and twenty provinces. Posts were sent in great 
haste. Lots were cast to see what day the decree should 
be executed, and it fell on the 13th day of the twelfth 
month. Just eleven months now, and eveiy Jewon earth 
will be slain. These letters commanded the kings and 
the rulers in eveiy place where there were Jews to rise 
and murder them on that day— old men and young, little 
children and women, and not to spare one. What an 
awful thing that was ! 



DTVINE PROVIDENCE : QUEEN ESTHER. " 285 

When Mordecai heard of the decree, he knew that 
Haman was determined on its execution. He knew ver>^ 
well, and every Jew throughout the realm knew, that by 
that strange article in the constitution of the kingdom 
of the Medes and Persians, a decree once sent forth 
by the king, with his seal appended, could not be re- 
versed or repealed. I do not know why they adopted 
such a law, unless it was, that the men who devised it sup- 
posed that if they made that a law, the King would be 
extremely careful what kind of decrees he sent out; he 
would consider every one maturely ; he would call in the 
wisest counsellors always before he issued a decree, and 
then, when it was sent out, he would feel absolutely cer- 
tain that it was wise; there would be no vacillation- 
passing laws one day and repealing them the next. A 
good deal of good sense in it after all. All the nation of 
the Jews knew that they were in his power ; they felt that 
their time had almost come — eleven months more and 
there would not be a child of Abraham left on this earth. 
Suppose that the decree had been executed, then all the 
promises that God had made to Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob would have been brought to nothing ; all the proph- 
ecies thus far uttered in regard to the future history of 
that people, and of our Saviour, and of Christian religion, 
would have fallen to the ground. God's solemn assurance 
concerning Israel made to Jeremiah more than once, 
" though I make a full end of all nations, I will never 
make a full end of thee," would have been falsified. 
Never, in the whole history of the Jewish race, were they 
brought into so fearful a crisis as at this hour. 

Now, I wish to trace — as I did this morning by the 
facts in the career of Joseph — I wish to trace the causes, 
one after another, linked in like the links of a chain, by 
which this awful calamity was averted. I have not the 



236 SERISION XVTII. 

benefit of a statement made in connection with the histo- 
ry recited this morning, the statement of Joseph to his 
brethren, ** It was not you that sent me to Egypt, but it 
was God," because the name of God is not found in the 
book of Esther (the only book in all the Bible which does 
not contain the name of God), so we shall be compelled to 
grope our way to-night through these facts, and see if we 
can find God in them, though he be not named, just as, 
in the facts of history transpiring to- day, and in the facts 
of our own individual hves, w^e are often compelled, if we 
would find God at all, to search for him without inspired 
guidance, and see where his hand has been stretched out. 
How, then, was this fearful, and to the mind of every 
Jew in that day (except, perhaps, that of Mordecai alone) 
this inevitable fate averted? He had faith, as his 
message to Esther shows, that it might be. You have seen 
the first step that was taken. The queen, dearly beloved 
by the King, was a Jewess, and had been a little orphan 
girl — neither father nor mother — taken care of by an old 
man, who was her cousin. Mordecai sends word to her, 
" Go in unto the Kmg, and plead with him for the life of 
thy people." But what could be her plea ? Since the de- 
cree had been passed and sent out over the earth, and can 
not be reversed, what can be her plea ? Mordecai did not 
know. I do not know that she could di\-ine what she 
would say, if she went in ; and then that strange law of 
the King that no person should be allowed to go into the 
inner court where he sat upon his throne, uncalled for, at 
the risk of being instantly killed by the guards that stood 
near, unless the King should see fit to hold out toward 
him the golden sceptre ! " The King has not called me 
into his presence." I do not suppose that she had not 
seen the King, but she meant into his presence in the royal 
court. " He has not called me into his presence for thirty 



DIVINE PROVIDENCE : QUEEN ESTHER. 237 

days, and how can I go?" "Who knows," says Morde- 
cai, in his answer, " but what thou art raised up to the 
kingdom for such a time as this ?" In looking around and 
searching, by the keenest judgment that he had as to the 
poseibihties of a deHverance of the people, he could not 
see a gleam of hope except in that young girl. He could 
scarcely see it there. Who knows but what it may be so ? 
And when he insisted, what a noble answer that was which 
she sent back to him : " Go and gather all the Jews in the 
city together, and tell them, every one of them, to fast 
day and night three days, and I and my maidens 
will fast at the same time, and then I will go in unto the 
King." She did not say what she would say to him. " I 
will go in unto the King, and if I perish, I perish." 
brethren, that was a noble resolve for a young girl who 
had been an orphan child and raised up suddenly to the 
highest position that a woman could occupy, thus to 
throw her life, as it were, upon the possibility of doing 
something to rescue her people. She went. How could 
she expect, going in after three days' fast, although she 
put on her royal apparal, that even the beauty of her per- 
son would attract the King ? Would she not be pale and 
thin and haggard ? But I presume that the risk she was 
running, the very risk she took when she went there, 
imparted a fresh glow to her cheeks, and that her solemn 
and almost divine self-sacrifice for the good of others, 
must have added a new luster to her eyes ; and when she 
stood before the King in all that splendid beauty, 
and dressed in the most becoming style, at once the 
golden sceptre was held out. She steps up till she 
touches it with her hand. "What is thy request and 
petition. Queen Esther? It shall be granted to the 
half of the kingdom." how her heart fluttered at those 
words ! And, what was her answer ? Why did not she 



238 ser:hon xtht. 

say at once, "0 King, I want you to save my people?" 
I suppose she was afraid to say that, for fear he would 
say no. She says, " My request and my petition, King, 
if I have found favor in thy sight, is that thou and Haman 
wilt come to the banquet which I have prepared for you 
this day." Now the King knew very well she was not 
going to risk her life to come in and ask for that. But he 
says, "I will come." He called Haman, and they went. 
They ate the rich viands she had prepared, and drank 
the wine, and when the banquet was about over, he says: 
"Queen Esther, what is thy petition and thy request? 
It shall be granted if it be half the kingdom ; " and still 
she did not tell him what she wanted. She was afraid to 
speak it out. Did you never go with the intention of put- 
ting a very important question, and when the moment 
came, you got choked on it, and you concluded to put it 
off and try it again ? And perhaps it was several times 
before you got it out. So she says : " My request, King, 
if I have found favor in thy sight, is this, that thou and 
Haman wdlt come again to-morrow for a banquet that I 
will prepare for thee." He says, " We will come." He 
knew perfectly well that she had not yet said what she 
wanted, and he could not divine what it was. 

When Haman left the palace, he hastened home. 
But as he hastened along, he saw Mordecai, and Morde- 
cai did not bow to him. He called in his friends and 
his wife, and told them all about his riches, and hie 
greatness, and the multitude of his children, and 
said : " Queen Esther made a banquet to-day, and she 
invited no man in all the kingdom except me to come in 
with the King to dine, but all of this is nothing to me so 
long as that man Mordecai sits by the King's gate and will 
not do me obesiance." What a poor miserable wretch, 
to allow a thing like that to make him miserable, when 



DIVINE PROVIDENCE : QUEEN ESTHER. 239 

he had everything else on earth that he wanted. Well, 
there are some men just that way, precisely that way. 
There is just one speck in their horizon that does not look 
to suit them, and they make themselves miserable over 
that, and all they have else, though it fill their hearts' 
desires, can not make them contented. Well, says 
Zeresh, his wife, If that is all, command a gallows to be 
made here this night seventy-five feet high, and go in the 
morning early and get the King to let you hang Mordecai 
on it; that will be the end of him. She was a wise 
woman. Well, I will do that. Doubtless he had his 
carpenters working all night putting up the gallows. 
While this scene was taking place in the palace (for I 
have no doubt it was a splendid palace, that of the prime 
minister), a very different one was taking place in the 
palace of the King. He could not sleep that night ; rest- 
less, tossing about ; and he got up to read until he would 
get sleepy. He called for the chronicles of his kingdom,and 
had one of his clerks to bring the book in which the impor- 
tant records of his reign had been written down day after 
day, and to read in it. As he read, he came to an ac- 
count of two of his chamberlains, who had laid a plot to 
assassinate him, when Mordecai had discovered it and 
revealed it to him. He said, "What honor has been 
bestowed upon Mordecai for that? " " No honor at all, 
King." He felt ashamed of himself. It was day- 
light now ; he heard a footstep in the court. " Who is in 
the court? " " Haman." '' Tell him to come in." Ha- 
man had come for permission to hang Mordecai. He 
comes in. "Haman, what shall be done to the man 
whom the King delights to honor ? " Haman instantly says 
to himself, " That means me ; for who is it the King de- 
lights to honor unless it be I ? " He did not think long 
until he said, " Let this be done. Let the royal apparel 



240 SERMON XVIII. 

that the King is used to wear be brought out, and the King's 
horse, and the crown he wears on his head, and command 
one of thy noblest princes to put the royal apparel and 
the crown on him, and put him on the horse, and lead 
him through the streets of the city, and proclaim as he leads 
him along, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the 
King delights to honor." Well, Haman, you get out the 
apparel and the crown and the horse, and take Morde- 
cai the Jew, and put him on that horse, and lead him 
through the streets, and proclaim, "Thus shall it be 
done to the man whom the King delights to honor." There 
was no alternative. Haman had to do it. And when 
he got through leading the horse around, he went home 
with his head covered, bowed down, the most wretched 
man in the city. He called his friends and his wife to- 
gether again, and told them all about it, and his wife 
showed her good sense again. She said, " Haman, if that 
is a Jew before whom you have begun to fall, you will go 
down." She knew the history of those Jews. She had 
heard, I suppose, about Daniel, whose enemies went into 
the lions' den. She had heard, perhaps, about the fiery 
furnace. " If that is a Jew before whom you have begun 
to fall, you will go down." There is no hope for you. 

Just at this time the messenger comes to hurry him 
off to the banquet that Esther had prepared, and he went 
with the King. They sat dow^n to eat and drink; got 
through. " Queen Esther," says the King, " what is thy 
petition and thy request?" The time had now come 
when she felt that she must tell it. Whether the answer 
be yes, or no, it must come. She says, " King, if I have 
found favor in thy sight, my petition and my request is 
that my hfe shall be given to me, and the life of my peo- 
ple; for w-e are sold to be destroyed, to be slain, and to 
perish. If we had been sold, Khig, to be bondmen and 



DIVINE PROVIDENCE : QUEEN ESTHER, 241 

bondwomen, I would not have opened my mouth. But 
how can we perish, and who can recompense the King for 
the loss, when all of us shall be slain ? " The King arose 
in a great passion, and demanded, "Who is he, and 
where is he that has done this thing ? " •' The man who 
has done it, King, is that wicked Haman." A thunder 
storm is now brewing in the heart of the King. He does 
not want to do anything hasty or rash. He leaps up and 
walks out into the garden ; walks around trying to cool 
his senses, so stunned was he with this revelation. He 
remembers that Haman had entrapped him into signing 
that decree, and Haman, he sees clearly, is the author of 
it. He comes back and sees Haman down on the rich rug 
on which the queen was seated, kneeling at her feet, 
and he made a remark that caused the guards to rush 
forward and seize him, and cover his head. Harbonah, 
one of those guards, who did not love Haman any too well, 
says : " King, he has raised a gallows fifty cubits high 
in the court of his house to hang Mordecai." *' Hang 
him on it." And it was done. What a fearful outcome 
to the arrogance and pride and ambition of an ungodly, 
cruel man. It sometimes happens in this world. A man 
had not better act thus, if there is a God reigning in 
heaven, and if there are any true men here on earth. 

But Haman is out of the way now. What was the 
next step ? Mordecai is sent for. The King's ring is put 
into his hand. He is elevated to the vacant office. But 
what can he do to save his people from the effects of a 
decree that can not be altered ? The King himself has 
no power to reverse it. What can he do ? Once more he 
appeals to Esther, Go in before the King once more 
and ask him that something may be done to avert this 
awful calamity. At the risk of her life, she went again. 
Again the golden sceptre is held out. She asks the King 



24*2 SERMON XVIII. 

that some measure may be adopted to save her people. 
He pulls o£f his ring and hands it to Mordecai and says, "Do 
as you can," but he did not know what could be done. 
Mordecai was to act. So he drew up a decree, and 
signed it with the King's seal, and the name of the Kiug's 
council, and sent it with all possible haste to every prov- 
ince, ordering that on the 13th day of the twelfth month 
the Jews shall all arm themselves and stand up and defend 
themselves agamst every man who shall attack them, and 
put to death every man who shall seek to slay them. 
The decree went out. Of course, when this new decree 
came, every man in office was immediately afraid of the 
Jews. The people became their friends, and when the 
day came, every man that attempted to kill a Jew was 
killed himself, and there was a great dehve ranee. 

Now, what is there in all this to show the providence 
of God ? Let us see if we can find it. The decree that 
Mordecai sent out was what averted the effects of the 
first decree, and saved the nation. How did he hap- 
pen to send out that decree ? Because the King extended 
the sceptre to Esther the second time. If he had not done 
that, the decree would not have been issued. And how did 
Mordecai happen to be the man who had the wisdom and 
the intelligence to devise the plan and execute it ? Hav- 
ing saved the King's life and been highly honored by him, 
when Haman was slain Mordecai was put in his place. 
All thus far depended upon the circumstance of the King 
deciding to make Mordecai the successor of Haman. 
But on what did the fact that Mordecai was alive at that 
moment, so as to be made Prime Minister, depend ? It 
depended upon the fact that Haman got into the court 
that morning when he went to have Mordecai hung, just 
after the clerk had been reading about Mordecai saving 
the King's life. If he had gotten in ten minutes sooner, 



DIVINE PROVIDENCE : QUEEN ESTHER. 24B 

the clerk would not have read that far, and the King 
would have said, Yes, go on and hang him ; for, having 
decreed the death of all the Jews in the world, it would have 
only been hanging one of them a little in advance of the 
others. Haman got in just a little too late ; and how did 
that happen? Can you tell? You call it an accident, 
perhaps ; but how did it happen that the King that night 
heard the story read about Mordecai saving his life? 
Why, he could not sleep. Well why couldn't he sleep ? I 
don't know. It may have been because he ate too much 
supper. It may have been because he had too much 
care on his mind about his government. May be he had 
the head-ache. There are forty things you can think of 
that might have kept him from sleeping. But was it 
accidental, when all those tremendous consequences were 
hanging upon it ? How did it happen, in the next place, 
that the King had not recollected Mordecai when the good 
deed was done which saved his life? You might ask 
how it happened that the chief butler forgot about 
Joseph. We can not tell. Your wife says, " Husband, 
did you do so and so?" '^No, I forget it." ''What 
made you forget it ? " "I don't know ; I just forgot it." 
He can not tell why. Does God know ? I suspect he 
does. I would not be surprised if he has some hand in 
it sometimes. Well then, let us trace the causes a little 
farther back. How did it happen that there was a young 
Jewess at that time queen of all the realm, who, by her 
influence with the King, and the charms of her beauty, 
and the ingenuity with which she managed the case, 
brought down the wrath of the King upon Haman ? How 
did that happen? You all remember that part of the 
story. The King made a great feast, and while he was 
full of wine, sent word to Vashti, his wife, to come out 
and show what a beauty she was. She said, " No." It 



244 SER:\rox xviii. 

\Y3i8 immodest for a womaji of high rank to be seen unveiled 
in the presence of strange men. It was considered im- 
modest and unladyhke. I will not do it. Seven coun- 
sellors were called on to know what should be done with 
her, and they decided to banish her from the throne and 
the palace. How 1 honor that woman, heathen woman 
though she was. Eather be banished from the position 
of queen and driven out in disgrace, than sacrifice her 
ladylike modesty, even at the command of her drunken 
husband. what a contrast to many ladies of high 
position in Christian lands, who sacrifice their modesty 
every day at the demand of fashion. She would not do 
it. After a while the King began to get sorry. He loved 
that beautiful woman. There never was a man who acted 
the fool and got separated from his wife that did not 
regret it afterward. But those wise counsellors were 
afraid of the effect of restoring the queen, so they advised 
him to send out a decree that the whole nation should 
be searched over for the most beautiful women to be 
found, and they should be brought to the King for him to 
take his choice, thinking he would find one more beautiful 
than Yashti. Old Mordecai knew he could not live many 
years more, and then what would become of Esther, a 
lone child ? He knew she was beautiful. No doubt, in Mor- 
decai's eyes, she was the most charming child that ever 
walked the earth. I will try to get her the place. So he 
sent her in, and she pleased the King above all others, and 
he loved her from the moment he saw her; and in this 
way that little orphan girl had become the queen of all 
the realm. If Vashti had not been as true to herself as 
she was, and had maintained her place, there would have 
been no chance for Mordecai to send Esther to the King. 
If the charms of this girl had not won the heart of 
the King when she was brought before him, she would 



DIVINE PROVIDENCE : QUEEN ESTHER. 215 

never have been queen ; so that all the facts that serve 
as links in this chain, delivering the Jews from the terri- 
ble decree sent out by Haman, depended, at last, upon 
the fidelity of Vashti to her sense of womanly modesty. 
And then it depended upon the beauty and attractiveness 
of the young Jewess, and upon her being willing to risk 
her life. And all those other circumstances, good and 
bad, interlocking, made a chain by which the final result 
was brought about, and the nation saved. Did God have 
anything to do with it ? What do you say ? 

A few days ago I stood in the great fair at Chicago, 
before a weaving machine— a wonder. There were com- 
ing out beneath the shuttles bands of silk about as wide 
as my hand, and perhaps a foot long, four or five coming 
out at one time at different parts of the loom, woven with 
the most beautiful figures in divers colors. One of them 
was "Home, Sweet Home," the words woven by that 
machine, and above the words was the music. There 
was woven at the top a beautiful cottage, trees in the 
yard, bee-gums, and children at play, and down below 
the words and music, a lone man sat, with his face 
resting on his hand, thinking about that distant home. 
All coming out of that machine. The shuttles were 
flying, threads were twisting and dodging about, the ma- 
chine was rattling, and no human band on it, yet there 
the song, the pictures, the music, were coming out. Did 
they come out by accident? By an accidental combina- 
tion of circumstances ? I could not, to save my life, tell 
how it was done, but I saw a pattern hanging up at one 
side with many holes through it, and I was told that that 
pattern was ruling the work of that intricate machinery, 
and leading to that result. I was bound to believe it. Now 
you could make me believe that this beautiful piece of work 
came out of the loom by accident, and without any man 



246 9EH]\roN xvni. 

directing and planning it, just as easily as you can make 
me believe that this chain of circumstances, of facts, 
bringing about, in accordance with God's faithful prom- 
ises, the deliverance of his people, was accomplished with- 
out him. God was there, my brethren. And just as 
little can I believe that all those intricate circumstances 
in my life and yours, which shape and mould and direct 
and guide us, which take us when we are crude and 
mcked men, and mould and shape us and grow us up 
until we are ripe and ready to be gathered into the eter- 
nal harvest — that all this is human, or all blind force, or 
accident, and that there is no hand of God in it. 

In the story of Joseph, God's hand is pointed out, so 
that we can see how his providence wrought out his pur- 
pose. The story of Esther follows without even the name 
of God, and we are left, with the training imparted by 
the former story, to find God for ourselves in this. When 
we have found Him, we are prepared to find Him in our 
own lives. 

My friends, God is dealing with you to-day, to-night. 
You can not see his hand ; you may not, as in this story, 
hear his name; but he is here. Will you believe it? 
Will you act in harmony with it ? Will you give yourself 
up to His divine guidance ? Will you follow Him ? If it 
is in your heart to do so, begin to-night. Do not delay. 
0, to have the hand of God to lead you ! What hand can 
lead so safely? What eye can choose and direct your 
future path so well ? May God help you to come and 
walk in the path Avhich leadeth to everlasting life and 
peace. 



SEKMON XIX. 



THE JERUSALEM CHURCH. 



"And the rauJtitude of them that believed were of one 
heart and soul ; and not one of them said that aught of the 
things which he possessed was his own ; but they had all 
things common." (Acts, iv, 32.) 

In the beginning of our race God made one perfect 
man and one perfect woman. They were perfect physi- 
cally, mentally and spiritually ; for God made them in 
his own image, and when they were made he looked upon 
them and said they were "very good." But in process of 
time our first parents fell from their high estate, and ever 
since then it has been the aim of every right minded man 
to struggle back to the innocence and purity of Eden. In 
like manner, when the fullness of time had come, God 
made a perfect church, or one as near perfect as could 
be made out of fallen human beings. The church also 
fell ; and ever since it has been the aim of all who have 
rightly understood the revelation which God has given us, 
to get back to the characteristics of the Jerusalem church. 
The time has been when few among Protestants could be 
found to deny this ; but in recent years it has been called 
into serious question by men of repute aU the way from 
Oxford University to our western prairies. I think it well 
therefore to reinvestigate the grounds of the old opinion, 
and see whether we and our fathers have been mistaken. 

When we consider the fact that the Jerusalem church 
was under the direction, during the whole of its brief ca- 
reer, of inspired men, one or more of whom seems to have 
been continuously present in the administration of its af- 

247 



24S SERMON XIX. 

fairs, this alone would seem to guarantee the absolute 
correctness of all its proceedings, at least in the estima- 
tion of all who continue to believe in the mii-aculons in- 
spii-ation of the twelve apostles. But such are the present 
conceptions of inspiration held by many who still call them- 
selves Christians, that with them this is no longer a 
guarantee against much that is now said to be unwise 
for the time that then was, and incongruous with 
the needs of our own generation. It may be admit- 
ted in^dvance of special examination, that the Jerusa- 
lem church did not pass thi'ough all the experiences 
which congregations have since encountered, and that 
therefore it had no possible opportunity to set us an 
example for such experiences ; and yet it may still be for 
us a perfect model to the extent of the experiences through 
which it was called to pass. Beyond this it would of 
com-se be idle to think of it as a model church. Let us 
inquire then, what its experiences were, and let us see 
whether it set us an example in them that is worthy of 
all imitation, and incapable of improvement. 

It may be well to glance in the first place, at the ma- 
terial of which this church was composed when it first 
came into existence. The nucleus of one hundred and 
twenty members, we remember, had been called by our 
Lord in person from among the sheep that he called his 
own, who knew his voice, and followed him as the true 
shepherd ; and when, on the great Pentecost, the gospel 
of a risen Christ was first proclaimed, among the many 
thousands of devout Jews who heard it three thousand 
were found to acknowledge theii- faith, to repent, and to 
be baptized forthwith. These three thousand were men 
of tender consciences and decision of character, who 
needed only to know then* duty in order to do it at once. 
There was no parleying, no hesitation ; but before the sun 



THE JERUSALEM CSUriCH. 249 

bad gone down on the day that they first heard the gos- 
pel preached, they were baptized into Christ. They were 
the pick and flower of that whole generation of jews, the 
ripest fruits of the good tree planted by Moses and 
nourished by the prophets of Israel. Having such ma- 
terial to begin with, we should expect to see the inspired 
apostles mould them into a model church ; and we are 
not surprised at the statement with which their history 
as a church begins, that they "continued steadfastly in the 
apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of 
bread and prayers ;" and here, in these four items, we 
find them a model for all subsequent imitation. To con- 
tinue steadfastly in the apostles' teaching, is still the 
highest attainment of a church of God, as respects its 
advance in knowledge of the things which pertain to 
life and godliness; and to continue steadfastly in the fel- 
lowship of the apostles, is to have continuous fellowship 
with God and Christ and all the saints in light. To be 
steadfast in the breaking of bread and in the prayers, all 
the prayers that are appointed or authorized, is almost a 
certain assurance of a life in other respects well pleasing 
in the sight of God. 

Such a church is certain to experience a rapid growth 
in numbers ; for its high qualities will inevitably draw to 
it the true-hearted in the community about it. This 
church did grow with marvelous rapidity. It soon num- 
bered five thousand men, besides women and children; 
and if the latter classes maintained anything like the 
ratio they do in modern times, the whole number must 
have been at least ten thousand. It was at this stage of 
its progress that the remark is made which I have tak- 
en for my text. The multitude of these ten thousand be- 
lievers were of one heart and one soul. We talk much 
these days about Christian union. We can't talk too 



260 SEBMON XIX. 

much about it. We are solicitous, as believers have not, 
been for ages past, for the fulfillment of our Saviour's 
prayer in behalf of the union of all that believe in him. 
Have we forgotten that this prayer was at one time ful- 
filled to the very letter ? Here, in this first church, was 
a mass of men, women and children, of whom the in- 
spired writer says, that they were all of one heart and 
soul, so completely so, that not one of them counted any- 
thing which he possessed as his own. It was all ours 
not mine. Not one was allowed to lack anything needful, 
though it required the sale of houses and lands on the 
part of some to supply the wants of others. Was there 
anything short of perfection in that union? Is that 
church not in respect to unity of the Spirit in the bond 
of peace, the model for us all ? Can we have any higher 
aspiration, than to struggle back toward the unity of the 
Jerusalem church ? 

Let me say, that we have here not only a perfect model 
of Christian union, but also the Lord's own method of 
working toward the universal unity of the people of God. 
God began by bringing into existence one church per- 
fectly united in itself and in Him, and then went on to 
originate others that were called on to imitate this. Had 
they done so, there would have been universal unity as 
far as the faith in Christ extended. So now, if we would 
bring about unity once more, we must begin by having at 
least one perfectly united congi-egation. Do you know 
such a congregation ? Would you not travel many miles 
to see a church of even a few hundred members, of 
whom it could be truly said that they are all of one 
heart and soul, and that not one of them says that any- 
thing he has is his own 9 But until we have some such 
churches as that, how can we possibly have Christian 
union? If we could to-day bring into union all the con- 



THE JERUSALEM CHURCH. 261 

gregations in the United States without a material 
change of each within itself, we should not have the 
unity for which our Saviour prayed. It would be a 
jumbling together of many incongruous elements. 

Some of us are obviously looking in the wrong 
direction for a restoration of the unity which once 
existed. We must look backward to the church that 
was, and not forward to some imaginary church of the 
future, for the model of union, and the union must begin 
in the individual congregation. When you get one con- 
gregation united in the Lord, you have made the right 
start, the start which the Lord himself made. Then get 
another and another into the same condition, and you 
will have them united with one another as fast as they 
become united within themselves in the Lord. The man 
then, who is doing the most to-day for the final union of 
all God's people, is not the man who is making the most 
noise about it, and getting up the biggest conventions to 
consider the subject, but the man who is doing the most 
to establish the unity of the Spirit in the midst of some 
single congregation, and thus reproducing the model 
church of old. Why can not the church which I am now 
addressing be the one to first set an example in this di- 
rection? Here is your model. See that you work ac- 
cording to it. 

But perfect as this union was, it was a union of 
imperfect human beings, still bearing marks of the fall ; 
and there was constant danger of its disruption. The time 
came when its disruption was averted only ])y consum- 
mate wisdom, and a manifestation of generosity such 
as claims our unbounded admiration. While the vast 
majority of the members were Hebrews, that is, home 
born Jews, many of them were Hellenists, or Jews bom 
ftbroad. Between thes^ two classes, everywhere except in 



252 SERMON XIX. 

this model church, there was some ahenation and jeaiousy ; 
and finally, within the church itself there arose a murmur- 
ing of the Hellenists against the Hebrews, that the 
widows of the former were neglected in the daily minis- 
tration. What a fine opportunity for a general quarrel 
— for the Hebrews to say, " It is no such thing ;" and for 
the Hellenists to retort, "We know it is." And as the 
apostles themselves had been the almoners, what an op- 
portunity for some of them to fall back upon their dig- 
nity, and complain that their honesty or fairness had 
been called in question. Did anything of this kind oc- 
cur ? If it had we should not be able to hold up the Je 
rusalem church as a model. It would have- been too 
much like our churches of the present day. You know 
what occurred — that the apostles called the Avhole multi- 
tude together — a vast assembly in Solomon's portico no 
doubt, and proposed that seven men full of the Holy 
Spirit and of wisdom be selected and set apart to look 
after the daily distribution, so that the apostles might 
give all their time to the ministry of the word and prayer. 
We are told, that " the saying pleased the whole multi- 
tude." Every one of them was glad to see a way of 
avoiding dissension, and healing the breach before it was 
formed. The people selected the men; and if you will 
look over the list of names, you will see that there is not a 
Hebrew name among them— no Joseph, no Judah, no 
Simeon, no Benjamin, no Isaac, no Abraham. All are 
Greek names, full-blooded. They are PbilUp, Prochorus, 
Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas; and one of them, Nicolas, 
was not a Jew by blood at all, but a prosel5i;e whose 
home had been in the Greek city of Antioch. What does 
this mean '? It means, that the Hebrews, though greatly 
in the majority, selected all the men from the minority, 
from the very party in which had arisen the murmur- 



THE JERUSALEM CHURCH. 253 

ing; and thus, to the great surprise no doubt of that par- 
ty, they smothered the murmuring under a deluge of 
generosity. brethren, what a model we have here ! 
How easy it would be for every church, when murmuring 
from a minority is first heard, to drown it out at once and 
forever, if we only had the heart to imitate the model 
church. God help us to think of this hereafter. 

I said at the outset that this church was made as near 
perfect as it could be with human materials. This im- 
plies that exceptions would be found in the case of indi- 
viduals. So, in the course of time one of its greatest vir- 
tues became a source of temptation and sin to two weak 
members. One day, while Peter was presiding at some 
meeting, a brother named Ananias walked forward, and 
laid at his feet a bag of silver which contained, he said, 
the price of a piece of land which he and his wife had 
sold for the benefit of the poor. If the disciples at that 
age had been as demonstrative and irreverent in the 
Lord's house as are some of our modern assemblies, I 
think there would have been general and very hearty 
clapping of hands at this deed. What then was the con- 
sternation of the brethren, when they saw a frown on 
Peter's brow, and heard from him these blistering words : 
" Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the 
Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the 
land? While it remained, did it not remain thine 
own ? And after it was sold was it not in thy power 7 How 
is it that thou hast conceived this thing in thy heart? 
Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." While 
they listen and gaze, Ananias falls to the floor, and 
the cry is raised, He is dead. Peter calls out some 
young men from the audience, and tells them to wrap 
his clothing around him, take him out, and bury him at 
once. He was buried before he was cold. By com- 



254 SERMON XIX. 

mon consent, or more probably through an intimation 
from Peter, no one ran to tell his wife. The meeting 
went on for about" three hours. And what a solemn 
meeting it must have been ! The wife of the dead man 
at last walks in, and Peter calls her forward. *'Sapphii'a, 
tell me whether ye sold the land for so much." "Yes, for 
so much." " How is it that ye have agreed together to 
tempt the Spirit of the Lord ? Behold, the feet of them 
who have buried thy husband are at the door, and they 
shall carry thee out." She also falls dead. The same 
young men take her up, carry her out, and bury her by 
the side of her husband. What awful work this was ; 
and how quickly done ! No tears, no prayers, no delay. 
Nothing but solemnity and awe like that of the judgment 
day. And whose w^ork was it ? Not that of Peter ; for he 
seems not to have known that Ananias was to fall dead ; 
and although he knew that Sapphu-a would, he expressed 
no will of his own in the matter. It was the work of the 
great Head of the church, who thus exercised discipline in 
His church, so as to show those to whom it would after- 
ward be entrusted, the promptness with which crying sins 
must be rebuked if the church would please Him. This 
is a divine intimation on the subject of discipline. Shall 
we learn the lesson, or shall we continue, as so many 
churches have long been doing, to keep the ungodly in the 
church, under the vain delusion that we are exercising for- 
bearance and mercy which heaven will approve, or under 
the idle impression that we have a better hope of 
saving a wicked man in the church, than if we cast him 
out. I think that God knows more than we do about 
how to save wicked men ; and He through His apostle has 
used these solemn words: "Now we command you, 
brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye 
withdraw from eveiy brother that walketh disorderly, and 
not after the tradition which they received from us," 



THE JEEUSALEM CHURCH. 255 

Perhaps some of you are ready to say: Such discipline 
as that would never do, for it would scare everybody 
away from the church, and you would never have any 
more additions. Well, it was intended to scare somebody 
away from the church, and I suppose it did. I will ven- 
ture, that if any of the liars or hypocrites in Jerusalem 
had any thought of joining the church soon, it kept them 
away. They would conclude that such a church was not 
a healthy place for men of their stripe. But if there 
were any yet outside the church who were in dead earnest 
about trying to get to heaven, and felt the need of good 
company on the way, it must have had a very different 
effect on them. They now knew that this church was a 
body in which liars and hypocrites could not be tolerated, 
and this is the very kind of a church which they intended 
to join if they ever joined any. 

It would seem at first glance, that the reputation of 
the church would suffer prodigiously when it became 
known that it had two such members as Ananias and 
Sapphira — that its enemies would wink their eyes, and 
say, Ah yes, this new fangled religion looked very 
fair at first; those people were wonderfully kind to 
the poor ; but see now what hypocrites and pretenders 
they are, doing all this in appearance only. How many 
others are there who have kept back part of the price 
when they pretended to be giving all ? Such would un- 
doubtedly have been the result, if Ananias and Sapphira 
had been kept in the church, as they certainly would 
have been if the model of many modem churches had 
been followed. But the real result was far different. Did 
it drive everybody away from the church? I hope you 
have not forgotten what the text of Acts says on this 
point. We read, just as we might expect, that '' Great 
fear came upon the whole church, and upon all that 



256 SKRMOK XIX. 

heard these things ;" but we also read, that "believers were 
the more added to the church, nmltitudes both of men and 
women." So it will ever l)e. Let us lay aside then our 
compromises with sin, and boldly follow the model church 
in keeping a high wall and a deep ditch between the 
church and the world, while we open the gates to those 
who are in earnest when they start for heaven. 

We have thus far seen tbat the Jerusalem church is a 
model in the high qualities of unity, liberality, generosi- 
ty, and strictness of discipline ; and when a church 
stands high in these, it can not well have a low^ rank in 
anything else that is good. Nevertheless, this church 
has been charged with some grievous faults, and to these 
we shall now pay attention. It has been said that 
it was an anti-missionary church; that it confined its 
evangelization to the city of Jerusalem, unmindful of the 
great outlying world, and that it became necessary for 
God to smite it with the l)e3om of apparent destruction, 
and scatter its members to the four winds, in order to 
send it out on its world-wide mission of preaching the gos- 
pel to the whole creation. But let us see how this is. It 
is true that the apostles did remain in Jerusalem until 
the church was dispersed- under the persecution that 
arose about Stephen, and not only so, but that they stood 
their ground, and would not be driven away when all 
their brethren had fled. But why was this? It was in 
obedience to the express command of the Lord. He had told 
them to begin at Jerusalem, and it was their duty to re- 
main there until they received some intimation from Him, 
either oral ol- providential, that they should enter the 
next field of labor. They had received no such intima- 
tion. On the contrary, up to the very time that Stephen 
was stoned, every intimation of Providence was in favor 
of a further stay. How can a conscientious preacher de- 



THE JERUSALEM CHURCH. 257 

termine when he ought to leave one place and go to 
another? He can judge only by the degree of success at- 
tending his labor where he is, compared with that which 
he may reasonably anticipate elsewhere. Suppose, for 
illustration, that a preacher were holding a series of 
meetings in this church, with crowded audiences, and 
scores of persons confessing Christ every day; what 
would you think if he were to suddenly close his meeting 
and go up among the river hills, and commence one in 
some country schoolhouse ? You would say that he was 
throwing away his opportunities, and sacrificing the in- 
terest of many souls. Precisely thus would it have been 
with the apostles and the other laborers in Jerusalem, 
if they had left the city before they did. Up to that very 
day their success in winning souls had continued to be 
greater than they could hope for in any other city or 
country under the sun, greater indeed than they ever 
afterward achieved in the wide world. Eead the state- 
ments in the first six chapters of Acts, and see that after 
Pentecost the accessions to the ranks of the believers 
steadily increased until the very day in which Stephen 
was arraigned. The very last statement of the text be- 
fore the account of his persecution begins, is this : " The 
word of God increased ; and the number of disciples in 
Jerusalem multiplied exceedingly ,- and a great company 
of the priests were obedient to the faith." It appeared as 
if the whole city would soon be brought to Christ if the 
work should only be pressed a Httle longer. Was this a 
time to leave Jerusalem, and go to Samaria, or to the 
dark regions of the heathen world ? Preposterous ! and 
preposterous is the thought of him, who, with more zeal 
than knowledge in regard to foreign missions, creeps up in 
his ignorance, and whines out a complaint that the 
church in Jerusalem is anti-missionary ! No, brethren. 



268 



;ermon XIX. 



the real spirit of that chui'ch in regard to the evan- 
gehzation of the world, was seen both in staying 
and in leaving. And when they did leave then- homes, 
though they had lost their all because of their 
zeal for Christ, they went everywhere preaching the 
gospel. Never was there a church which burned wdth a 
more consuming zeal for the conversion of the world, or 
labored more wisely in that very direction even while 
they still remained within the Holy City. It is not ignor- 
ance of the facts, so much as want of retiection upon 
them, which has given rise to this charge. 

Another serious charge against this church is based 
upon their failure for a time to evangelize the uncircum- 
cised. They are charged with being so narrow in their 
charity, and so bigoted in their Jewish exclusiveness, as 
to think that salvation was for the Jews alone. Their 
bhnd conservatism, we are told, was so extreme, that al- 
though they had been commanded by the Lord to go into 
the whole world, and make disciples of all nations, they 
were doggedly determined to confine their ministrations 
to the seed of Abraham. 

1 wonder if they thus were narrow and mean. The 
man who says they were ought to be very sure of it be- 
fore he makes the charge, lest he be found bringing a 
railing accusation against the Holy Spirit by whom these 
men were guided. Let us see what were the facts in the 
case. 

We are to remember that through a period of thirteen 
hundred years the written word of God had forbidden 
that any uncircumcised man be admitted to the ordman- 
ces of religion, and loyalty to God demanded that until 
this restriction was expressly rescinded by Him who ap- 
pointed it, his people must continue to maintain it. The 
same law, however, admitted to aU the privileges of the 



THE JERUSALEM CHURCH. 259 

Jewish religion, all Gentiles who would submit to circum- 
cision. How natural then, that the Jewish disciples, until 
they were otherwise informed, should conclude that while 
men of all nations were to be baptized into Christ, their 
circumcision was to precede their baptism. They were 
not indifferent to the salvation of the Gentiles, as is evi- 
dent from the fact that Nicolas, the proselyte of Antioch, 
had not only been baptized, but had been chosen as one of 
the deacons of this very church in Jerusalem. Yes, the 
very church which is charged with this narrowness, had 
selected a Gentile to a high office. 

Again, when Peter had been informed by a direct reve- 
lation from heaven that Gentiles even without circum- 
cision were proper subjects of baptism, and had baptized 
Cornelius and his friends, the Jerusalem brethren, not 
yet informed as to the ground of his action, called him to 
account for it ; but you will remember, that as soon as 
Peter recited to them the facts, they held their peace, and, 
instead of manifesting the reluctance which bigotry 
would have prompted, they ''glorified God, saying. Then 
to the Gentiles also hath God granted repentance unto 
life." They were happy to learn that they were at liberty 
to bring the believing Gentile into their fellowship just 
as he was. The question was settled, and settled forever. 
It was never raised again by even the most ignorant and 
bigoted member of the Jerusalem church. 

I am not forgetting that there arose in this church 
afterward a question whether the Gentiles who were 
brought into the church without circumcision, should not 
be circumcised afterward, as a condition of their final 
salvation. But who was it that raised this question? 
The text of Acts says (xv. 5), that they where " Pharisees 
who believed;" and Paul more particularly describes 
them by saying that they were "false brethren privily 



260 ser:mon xix. 

brought in, who came in privily to spy out our 
hberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might 
bring us into bondage" (Gal. ii. 4). This shows that false 
brethren might gain access to this church, and that 
false teaching might be announced in it ; but what was 
done by the church as a church ? The whole multitude 
was called together ; the truth on the subject was pro- 
pounded by the apostles who were present; the false 
teaching was silenced ; and the whole chui'ch united in 
a formal written declaration of the truth and repudiation 
of the error. Here again this church presents itself as a 
model, in maintaining the truth, and nipping in the bud 
the expression of erroneous and injm-ious teaching. This 
teaching would have broken the unity of the church if it 
had been allowed to run its course. 

But the Apostle Peter, we are reminded, also faltered 
once, under the pressure of Jewish exclusiveness. So he 
did on a single point, that of eating at the tables of the 
Gentile brethren. But this was only a temporary aber- 
ration of Peter, similar in nature, though not in degree 
of turpitude, to his temporary fall when he denied his 
Lord. Under Paul's rebuke he was restored to right ac- 
tion, and he afterward warmly endorsed the epistles 
of Paul in which this whole subject of the relations be- 
tween Jews and Gentiles is fully set forth, including the 
very epistle in which Paul speaks of Peter's sin and the 
rebuke w^hich Peter received (II Peter iii, 15, 16). This 
transaction shows, that while a very eminent member of 
the Jerusalem church was weak enough to give way for 
a time under the influence of some of the false brethren 
whom he had once assisted in silencing, he quickly re- 
covered ; and this reminds us of a remark which I made 
in the beginning, that this first chm'ch was as near per- 
fect as the human material out of which it was made 
would permit. It could not be more perfect than this. 



THE JERUSALEM CHURCH. 261 

In the last notice which the Scriptures give us of the 
Jerusalem church, this same subject of circumcision is 
brought forward, but the character of the church itself 
still stands without a shadow of reproach. James, the 
Lord's brother, and the appointed elders, are now at the 
head of its affairs, and Paul comes to the city at the 
time of a great festival. Unbelieving Jews, Paul's bitter 
enemies, had propogated the falsehood, that he had 
taught the Jews who were among the Gentiles not to cir- 
cumcise their children, or to observe the Jewish customs ; 
and danger of a riot was anticipated if they should see 
Paul about the temple. What was done to prevent such 
a calamity? James and the elders, reaffirming the de- 
cision which the church had announced years ago, that 
none of these Jewish customs should be required of Gen- 
tiles (xxi. 25) ; advise Paul for the sake of showing by ac- 
tion that these reports were false, to unite with four 
brethren in the services connected with the Nazarite vow, 
a service which, with the knowledge then possessed by 
the brethren, was considered perfectly compatible with 
the Christian faith. It was done ; and although the de- 
vice failed to conciliate Paul's enemies, it shows that to 
the very last the brethren in Jerusalem, and also Paul 
when he was with them, were studious to preserve the 
good will of all men, that they might gain some to 
Christ ; and that they employed every innocent device to 
win even their bitterest enemies to the Lord. In this the 
Jerusalem church proved itself to possess in an admirable 
degree the spirit of its adorable Head, and to be a model 
for all churches in circumstances analagous. 

Finally, this church is a splendid model, throughout 
its brief history, of steadfastness in the faith under the 
severest trials. I say, its brief history, because, from its 
beginning until its final dispersion, it existed only about 



262 SERMON XIX. 

thirty -four years. It was founded A. D., 34, and it was 
dispersed by the opening of the war with the Eomans, A 
D. 68. There were doubtless yet remaining to the last 
some members who had been baptized on the ever mem- 
orable Pentecost when it sprang into being. Duiing this 
short period it passed through five persecutions. In the 
first Peter and John were the victims. They were stand- 
ing in Solomon's portico in the presence of a vast con- 
course of people, when armed guards from the Sanhe- 
drim pushed their way through the crowd, seized the two 
apostles, and dragged them like criminals to the guard- 
house. The next day, after an exciting trial, they were 
dismissed with strict injunction accompanied by direful 
threats, not to preach or teach any more in the name of 
Jesus. Did the brethi'en speak of arming their five 
thousand men, and, under the protection of God, bidding 
defiance to their foes ? Not a word of it. These thou- 
sands remained perfectly quiet, and the two, when they 
were released, went straight to where the others were, and 
told all that had happened to them. One said, Let us pray. 
They all dropped to then* knees, and this prayer went up 
to heaven: " Lord, thou that didst make the heaven 
and the earth and the sea, and aU that in them is ; who 
by the Holy Spmt, by the mouth of our father David 
didst say: 

Why did the Gentiles rage, 

And the peoples imagine vain things? 

The kings of the earth set themselves in array, 

And the rulers were gathered together, 

Against the Lord and against his Anointed: 

for of a truth in this city against thy Holy Servant 
Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pon- 
tius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel 
were gathered together, to do whatsoever thy hand and 
thy counsel foreordained to come to pass. And now, 



THE JERUSALEM CHURCH. '268 

Lord, look upon their threatenings, and grant unto thy 
servants to speak thy word with all boldness, while thou 
stretchest forth thy hand to heal, and that signs and 
wonders may be done in the name of thy Holy Servant 
Jesus." The place was shaken, to show that the prayer 
was heard. They arose from their knees, went up to the 
temple, and spoke the word of God with boldness. In all 
this there was no thought of violence, no threatening ex- 
cept by the enemy ; but there was earnest prayer, and an 
indomitable determination to keep right on. Can we 
have a better model than this ? 

In the next persecution all of the apostles were arrested, 
and were confined for the night in the common prison 
used for thieves and cut-throats. They were tried again, 
as Peter and John had been, but they were not released 
until they had each been tied to the whipping post and 
received forty stripes less one on the naked back. And 
here comes the most incredible statement to me in the 
whole New Testament. It is the statement that when 
the apostles were thus publicly and shamefully whipped, 
they went away '' rejoicing that they were counted wor- 
thy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus." What 
power restrained their passions, and what kept quiet the 
thousands of brave men, their brethren, hundreds of 
whom would rather have died than to see that sight ? Ah, 
this is the model church. These apostles and their ad- 
herents are unconsciously setting a model for coming 
generations, a model of Christian patience and fortitude 
in imitation of their Master. 

The next blow of the enemy was enough to try the 
faith of the strongest. Stephen is stoned by the chief 
priests and elders. Devout men with great lamentations 
take up his mangled body and bury it ; but before their 
lamentations have died on the air, armed men are 



2f)i 



s?:r:\i<in xix. 



moving through the streets arresting every believer who 
can be found, both men and women, and the prisons are 
being crowded with them. The word for flight is given, 
and every gate of Jerusalem is crowded for a time with 
fleeing disciples, until the whole Jerusalem chm'ch is 
scattered to the \\iQds. No more preaching now. No 
more gatherings in Solomon's portico. Jerusalem has 
lost ten thousand of its people, and the enemies of the 
cross rejoice over the final destruction of the church. 
We shall hear no more now, they say as they greet one 
another, of the hated name of Jesus. But did the Jeru- 
salem church die ? It had never been more alive than it 
was that day ; and not many years had passed, when it 
was back in its old place again, with its chief persecutor 
now its boldest preacher. 0, brethi-en, the chm*ch which 
God has placed before us as a model could not be killed 
by persecution. 

The next persecution was planned and executed by a 
Herod. It was not aimed at the rank and file of the 
church, but at the apostles themselves. Herod seems to 
have said to the chief priests, you don't know how to kill 
off this abominable sect. You must strike it on the 
head. I wiU show how the thing can be done. So he 
seizes and coolly beheads the apostle James, the oldest, 
I suppose, of the twelve. The unbehevers applaud. He 
seizes Peter next, not now to scom*ge him and let him go, 
but to send him headless to the grave after his brother 
James. It was the Passover feast, and he must not be 
executed till the feast is over. I will keep him in prison, 
says Herod, till the close of the feast. But the priests 
and elders had tried that once with all the apostles, and 
I think some of them must have said, You can't keep 
those men in prison, Herod. We tried it once, and they 
got out without opening the door or distui'bing the guards. 



THF: JERUSALEM CHUECH. 265 

I will show you ; so Herod chained him to two soldiers, 
and placed him and them in the inner prison. He set 
two guards between the three and the outer door. This 
door was a heavy one of iron ; and another body of sol- 
diers was stationed in front of it. No thief or murderer 
was ever more securely imprisoned. But on the appoint- 
ed morning, though the soldiers were all found at their 
posts, and the iron door securely locked and bolted, the 
prisoner gone. The guards who stood in front were called 
up. " Why did you let that man pass out of the prison?" 
" No man, king, passed through the door last night. 
We watched all night without sleeping." The man who 
kept the key was called up. ''Who unlocked that door 
last night ?" " No one, king, 1 had the key, and I was 
not there." The guards between the prisoner and the 
door: "Why did you let that man pass by you last 
night?" "No man, king, passed by us. We paced 
our beat all night, the light was burning, and no man 
passed by us." The men to whom he was chained; 
"How did that man loosen the chains which fastened 
him to your arms ?" " We can not tell, king. All we 
know is, that when we went to sleep he was there, and 
when we awoke he was gone." " We told you so," chimed 
in the chief priests. Now Herod knew just as well as he 
knew his own name, that here was a great miracle ; but 
he cruelly ordered every one of the sixteen innocent sol- 
diers to be put to death. No wonder that soon afterward 
he was himself smitten by an angel, and followed his vic- 
tims into eternity. I don't see how the angel kept his 
hands off from him at the time of the massacre. But 
what was this model church doing all the time that its 
leader was in prison ? It is a short story but it speaks 
volumes. " Prayer was made earnestly by the Church 
unto God for him." They were not praying for his ee- 



266 SERMON XIX. 

cape, as appears from the fact that when he did escape 
they would not at first believe it. They had no hope of 
this. They expected liim to go as James had gone; 
and they prayed, I think, that he might be enabled to die 
as Stephen had died, as James had doubtless died, with- 
out faltering as he had once faltered in the presence of 
the priests and elders. What a noble example for the 
persecuted of every later generation ! and what an ocean 
of noble blood that has since been shed in battle, would 
have been saved, if the believers had always followed 
their model ! 

Of the fifth and last persecution we know but httle, 
and that little comes to us through the writings of an 
unbeUever. Its chief incident was the murder, under the 
order of the chief priest, of James the Lord's brother, as 
related by Josephus. The time was between the death 
of Festus and the arrival in Judea of his successor. We 
can be sure that others suffered as well as James ; and 
we may judge how the battle-scarred veterans of this 
model church endured the trial, by what we know of 
their conduct in the past. 

Finally, the time came for this church to close its 
career. It had set an example in everything that we 
know of it for the churches of all time to come ; it had 
fulfilled its mission on earth, and so, Hke thousands of 
churches in later times, it must pass away. The rebel- 
lious and unbelieving Jews had in the madness of des- 
pair provoked a war with the invincible power of Eome, 
and the armies which had conquered the world were de- 
fied by a handful of fanatics. As the Eoman legions 
begin to surround the Holy City, the disciples, in obe- 
dience to the command of their Lord uttered before his 
death, made a hasty flight, and the chm'ch of Jerusalem 
was no more. All of its enemies had not been able to 



THE JERUSALEM CHUBCH. 267 

kill it, but it died, as it had lived, in obedience to its 
Lord. It died as the sun dies at set of day, when it 
sinks amid a bank of clouds, and fills all the heavens 
with glory. what a church was that ! God grant that 
the like of it may yet be seen again, and that multiplied 
thousands like it may spread over the whole earth, so 
that the Head of the church, when He returns to reckon 
with us all, may find the model church reproduced in 
every congregation of his people. 



SERMON XX. 
CHURCH FINANCES. 



Morning July 30, 1893. 



Second Corinthians, eighth chapter, twelfth verse : 

" For, if the readiDess is there, it is acceptable accord- 
ing as a man hath, not according as he hath not." 

The financial part of a Church's work is very difficult 
of management. This is the experience of all religious 
bodies ; and it was the experience of the Church in the 
beginning. The very first sin and scandal within the 
Church in Jerusalem was connected with its financial 
matters — the sin of Ananias and Sapphira; and the 
apostle Paul devotes a very considerable amount of space 
in his epistles to the regulation of the same matter in the 
congregations that he planted. So, then, this difficulty 
is not a new one, and it is not peculiar to any particular 
congregation, or any particular body of believers, or any 
particular country. 

Failure to manage the finances of a church success- 
fully has in more instances than one, yes, more than a 
thousand, been the cause of the complete downfall and 
ruin of a congregation of the Lord. When a few persons 
have to carry the whole burden, they grow weary of it 
bye and bye, just as in a team, if one or two of the horses 
are balky, finally the whole team becomes so — they can 
not be relied upon to pull an ordinary load. Men and 
horses are very much alike. And whenever the free and 
willing givers in a congregation grow weary and give it up, 

268 



CHURCH FINANCES. 269 

then the congregation dies. The schemes that men have 
devised by which to overcome this difficulty are number- 
less. This is the origin of all church fairs and entertain- 
ments. Many of them are of questionable morality. 
They are sometimes carried to such an extent that in 
some of our States churches have been indicted by the 
grand jury for gambling in their church fairs. I have 
known of a horse race to be gotten up to raise church 
money. I am glad to say it was not a Protestant Church. 
Among earnest Christians this has produced a great 
reaction, and there are a great many now who are op- 
posed to any good kind of measure for raising money for 
religious or benevolent purposes, except the single one of 
drawing it from your purse and giving it direct. I think 
that is going to an opposite extreme. I do not think there 
can be any impropriety in a few Christians who desire to 
raise a sum of money for any religious or benevolent pur- 
pose, resorting to any means of raising it that is enlight- 
ening, elevating, purifying, and beneficial to the commu- 
nity, provided they always keep within the limits of what 
is thus beneficial. I do not think any reason can be 
given why they should be forbidden to do this, and yet 
the Church as a Church, of course, is not a business insti- 
tution, except so far as its own internal business is con- 
cerned. It should not undertake, as a congregation, any 
enterprise outside of this. 

I do not think that this question of church finances 
(and by that I now mean not the raising of money for 
religious and benevolent purposes in general, but for the 
current expenses of the Church), can ever be settled so as 
to secure correct management until the brethren and sis- 
ters come to understand and appreciate the principles that 
are to govern us in the matter, as laid down in the Word 
of God. When the principles are once correctly under- 



270 SERMON XX. 

stood, the application of them will not be very difficult. 
Hence, I first call your attention to some of the principles 
that are laid do\Mi to govern us in the whole matter of 
our contributions to the treasury of the Lord. 

The first that I will mention is a very radical one — it 
goes to the very root of the matter. It was presented by 
om- Saviour in connection with the parable of the unjust 
steward, by which parable he represents all the disciples 
of the Lord as stewards of God in regard to the things 
which they possess ; and he lays down this principle : *' If 
ye have not been faithful in that which is another's, who 
will give you that which is your own?" He regards all 
the property that we have in this world as belonging to 
God, and regards us as God's stew^ards, employed to 
manage for Him that much for a limited time. It is none 
of it our own ; and now, if you are not faithful in that 
which is thus another's, put temporarily into your hand, 
who will give you that which shall be your own '? That 
which is given us to keep forever is our own ; that which 
is given us to keep for a certain indefinite time is anoth- 
er's. What He gives to us here is His. We are stew- 
ards. What He will give to us hereafter will be ours 
forever — He calls it our own. Now, who will give you 
that which is your own, if you are not faithful in that 
which is another's ? 

Paul continues the same thought when he says: 
" Brethren, ye are not your ovm. Ye are bought with a 
price." You know what that price is, the blood of the 
Son of God. Put these two thoughts together now. 
What we have in the way of property is not our own ; we 
hold it as stewards. We, ourselves, are not our own ; we 
have been bought, and we belong to God. The brethren 
in the first Church — the Jerusalem Church — were taught 
these two great lessons, and, consequently, we read in the 



CHURCH FINANCES. 271 

fourth chapter of Acts that there was not one of them 
that counted anything which he possessed as his own, but 
that they had all things common. Suppose, now, that 
in any congregation on earth these two great principles 
were fixed in the minds and hearts of the brethren : I do 
not belong to myself, I am God's; my property is 
not mine, it is the Lord's. Don't you suppose there 
would be reproduced in that congregation the liberality 
of the first Church? They would all say, as a conse- 
quence of those two great principles, The things that I 
possess are not mine. And consequently they would 
come, as the first Church did, and lay down at the feet 
of the dispensers of the bounty of the Church all that 
should be needed for any good purpose. 

Another principle is laid down by the Apostle Paul in 
his first epistle to the Corinthians, the sixteenth chapter, 
when he says that we are to give according as the Lord 
has prospered us. That, now, is the measure of the giv- 
ing from day to day, and from year to year. It will vary 
in amount — as we are prospered more, we give more ; as we 
are prospered less we give less. That is the great regula- 
ting principle, then, by which a man is to determine from 
time to time, as he goes on through the struggle of life, 
what he should give — according as you are prospered by the 
Lord. And that principle, like the other, i.^ one that is self- 
evidently correct. If I am to give to the Lord of that 
which he has entrusted to my hands for the time being, 
it follows, as a necessary conclusion, that the amount I 
am to give is proportioned to the amount which He gives 
me. 

Another is this, We are to give readily and freely, 
according to our ability, as laid down in the text that I 
read you : " If there is first a readiness, it is acceptable, 
according as a man hath, and not according as he hath 



272 SERMON XX. 

not." Now, our ability is measured not always by the 
exact amount of money we have in our hands, or in the 
bank, or invested in our business ; because, in order to 
measure our ability, we must take into consideration both 
what we have and the other demands that are laid upon 
us. Our ability is measured then, and we give to the 
Lord's cause and the Lord's treasury according to that 
which duty requires us to give in other directions, as well 
as according to the actual amount that God bestows upon 
us. A man has certain obligations to discharge to his 
family, to the State, to his neighbors, and to the poor 
around him; and then, after these obligations are dis- 
charged, there is a certain proportion that he must give 
to the treasury of the Church of God to be dispensed for 
the salvation of men. 

Another principle that the apostle lays down, of great 
importance, is that there shall be equality in giving. He 
insists, in this chapter, that he is not willing for one to be 
oppressed and another to be eased — for one congregation 
or community to be oppressed and another to be eased. 
But there shall be equality ; and this is another of those 
self-evident principles. I do not suppose there is a club 
(social club) in your city or any other city, with which it is 
not a principle so obvious that it is never called in ques- 
tion, that each man in the club shall pay his equal propor- 
tion of the expenses. Why, if a fishing or hunting party is 
made up, or a pleasure excursion is undertaken, every 
man that goes in expects, as a matter of course, that he 
shall pay his equal portion of the expenses ; and no man 
would be regarded as a gentleman who would hesitate 
about it, because it is one of those self-evident moral 
principles that all human beings acknowledge at once, 
without dispute or hesitation. There is to be equality, 
then, in giving in the Church ; and equality here means 



CHURCH FINANCES. 273 

just what has been stated in those previous principles — 
that every man shall give according to his ability, and 
according as the Lord has prospered him. 

Still another principle of great importance is laid 
down by the apostle in another chapter, where he says, 
" The Lord loveth a cheerful giver." Cheerfulness must 
grace all the giving done by Christians, in order that it 
may be acceptable to the Lord. The Lord does not love 
a grudging giver. I think it ought to be a rule with the 
deacons of a church that if a man gives and growls about 
it when he does it, give it back to him. Don't let him 
bring upon himself the displeasure of the Lord by giving 
grudgingly to the Lord's treasury. Hand it back to him, 
and say. Now, brother, keep this money until you can 
find yourself in the frame to give it more cheerfully; 
for that is what the Lord requires. Some men take 
advantage of this, and say, I could not give so much 
and do it cheerfully. Well, then, don't give it. But 
remember, my brother, that the Lord is displeased with 
you because you can not do it cheerfully. You must not 
think you escape God and God's judgment because you 
can not do the thing cheerfully. The very fact that you 
can not do it cheerfully is against you. 

With these principles to govern us, I do not think it 
will be very difficult for us to decide what is the best way 
to secure from the members of a congregation that portion 
of their funds which is necessary to carry on the work of 
the Church. I am guarded in saying that portion of what 
they have, because I do not think it can ever occur in 
this country (it certainly can very seldom occur) that all 
the giving to be done by the members of a congregation is 
that which is necessary for its own regular and current 
expenses. Of course, that must be met. But what man 
is there that is willing to be contented with that ? What 



274 SERMON XX. 

man who loves the Lord, and desires to do some good in 
the world, is willing, while giving what he ought for his 
own congregation, to never give a cent for the broad, 
outlying world that is perishing in sin for the want of aid 
from those who have the knowledge of the truth? The 
home demand can not bound the liberality and the benev- 
olence of any man or woman who has a heart to feel for 
the suffering and dying nations of the world. A man 
can not be contented to give to the treasury of his own 
congregation what is necessary to keep it up, and refuse 
to give to the suffering poor in the city. Our benevolence 
must reach out beyond the narrow circle of our own con- 
gregation's wants. Still, it is within this narrow circle of 
which I speak that the great difficulty lies in managing 
the finances of the Church. 

One of the principles of which I have spoken deserves 
our very special attention here, while all the others that I 
have laid down must not be lost sight of, and that is the 
principle of equality. 

By equality is evidently meant this : the rich man and 
the poor man are expected to give to the purposes of the 
congregation equally in proportion to their abihty. I do not 
think I could have any respect for myself if 1 had to carry 
about in my soul the humiUating conviction that I was 
giving less in proportion to my ability to keep up the 
Church than the other members. I could have no self- 
respect; I do not think any man could. Well, how is 
that proportion to be determined ? How am I to be sure 
that I am doing that ? If I am left to determine it my- 
self alone, I am very apt to underestimate it. The self- 
ishness that belongs to our nature prompts a man to 
overestimate the relative amount of what he gives. At 
the same time it always prompts him to overestimate 
that which his neighbor ought to give. A man has to be 



CHUECH FINANCES. 276 

very level-headed and very level-hearted not to do both 
of these things. If we could get rid, absolutely rid, of all 
the selfishness that belongs to our nature, we would not 
be liable to this misjudgment ; but we can't very well do 
that. I hope we will be able to do it by the time we get 
to heaven. I think I have known a few persons that had 
gotten rid of selfishness, at least so far as practical exhi- 
bitions were concerned, or very nearly rid of it, before 
they got to heaven. I hope that we are all growing in 
that respect, for if we are not, we are not growing in any- 
thing that is good ; but still we all have some selfishness 
left. So, then, if every man is to be the sole judge in the 
Church of the relative amount that he ought to give, some 
of us will certainly give less than we ought. 

How then, can we settle the matter? Why, it is 
perfectly obvious and plain that it ought to be left to 
somebody that is disinterested, who can judge of the 
question without being biased by selfishness — somebody 
who can look at me and at that brother, standing off sep- 
arate from us, and make a fair, disinterested estimate of 
the relative ability of each. I think that is perfectly plain. 
Well, now, it so happens that God has the appointment 
ordered in his Church of certain ofiicers whose business 
it is to look after the finances of the Church — those whom 
we call the deacons; that is their official duty. 

If, then, they have been appointed for that purpose, if 
that is the o£&cial duty of that class of men in the Church, 
I should like to know where we can find anybody in the 
whole Church so likely to decide the relative amount that 
you and I and all of us should give. When a church 
elects deacons, if the members know what they are about, 
they select out of their number men whom they consider 
specially qualified for this very business. They are sup- 
posed, by their knowledge of all the members, by their 



276 



SERMON XX. 



business experience, and l)y their ability to Und out what 
they do not yet know, to 1)6 better acquainted with the 
actual ability of the members than anybody else, or any 
other set of men of the same number in the same church ; 
and as for you and me, they are disinterested, not inter- 
ested judges, as we are ; so I think that God's plan and 
the plan of common sense (which is always in harmony 
with the plan of God) suggest that we should leave it to 
them. Well, I am very glad so to do, so far as I am con- 
cerned. I should hate, when all things are revealed be- 
fore God, to find myself put down as a short -comer on 
the subject of giving; to be set down among the meaner 
set of Christians, the narrow hearted set. I think I would 
be ashamed of myself through all eternity, if I should 
discover that that is my place. I do not want to be in 
that class ; and I am afraid that if I were left all my 
life long as a church member to decide every year for 
myself what my equal part of the expenses of the church 
is — I am afraid I might fall short. I do not like to 
trust myself too much on that point. So I am very glad 
to be relieved of it; for in our church at Lexington, ever 
since it was first organized, we have left that mat- 
ter to the deacons. These brethren, who have been 
selected for the purpose, tell me how much I ought to 
give ; and when they do so, I feel quite certain that when 
I give that, I have not given too much. I feel sure I 
have not given too much, because the judgment of seven 
or ten or fourteen men is far better, far surer and more 
certain, as to what I should give, than my own judgment. 
And then, if I ever have a little doubt on the question of 
their assessing me too much, I know it can not be much 
too much; and if in giving to the Lord I happen to give 
a few dollars over, I know very well that it is safe. I 
have not hurt myself any. He will take good care of it, 



CHURCH FINANCES. 



277 



and He is sure to keep a good account of it. If I have 
given it cheerfully, it will rebound to me beyond all calcu- 
lation. I am perfectly safe. I am not very likely to be 
set down as one of the mean or close or stingy men, when 
I give freely and cheerfully all that they say is my share ; 
and if they assess me a little too high, why that is still a 
great blessing to me, because it places me where I want to 
be, among the more liberal givers. The wisest and best 
then of all the methods that can be devised, is to leave 
the question of the amount of giving to these men pur- 
posely set apart to take care of money matters. Just 
say. Brethren, I don't know how rich the others are. I 
do not know how much they are able to do. You know 
better than I do. I am a little selfish when it comes to 
deciding my own amount; tell me what you think it 
ought to be, and here it is. That is the principle. 

Just here let me remark, that I find men all over the 
country in the churches, who think that they are not re- 
sponsible to anybody except God, as to their giving; — 
Nobody's business but mine and my God's. I wonder if 
those men could give a reason why a man should be 
held accountable by the authorities of the Church for all 
the other sins he is guilty of, or may be guilty of, and 
not be held accountable for this particular sin. When 
I read through the New Testament, I find that the sin of 
covetousness or stinginess, is more frequently held up 
to condemnation by the Lord Jesus and the apostles, 
and dealt with in severer and more terrific terms, than 
any other sin in the whole category. Indeed, a covetous 
man is more unlike Christ than any other wicked man in 
the world. A drunkard who gets drunk every day may, 
and often does, have a good deal of the kindness and 
good heartedness that ought to belong to every Christian. 
And a man who in a passion gets mad and murders 



278 SERMON XX. 

another, may sometimes be a good kind of a man ; but if 
a man is covetous, stingy, penurious, miserly, he is fur- 
ther away from Christ, who gave up everything in heaven 
and came down to this earth and gave up everything that 
ordinary mortals consider desirable while here, and gave 
up his life, for the benefit of others, while this poor 
wretch wants everything for himself, and is not ready to 
give anything for others. I verily believe that the covetous 
man is the most wicked of men in God's sight. He is called 
an idolater. Paul says, " No covetous man shall inherit 
the kingdom of God." Men of my acquaintance have 
lived and died in the Church, whom I knew, and all the 
neighborhood knew, whom whole counties knew to be cov- 
etous men. I had ten thousand times rather die the death 
of a drunkard, than to die the death of such a man as 
that ; I would have more hope that God might forgive 
me and save me at last. Consequently, the Apostle 
Paul commands the brethren to withdraw from and put 
away from them every covetous man. He says "I have 
written unto you not to keep company, if any man that 
is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an 
idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; 
with such a one no not to eat." " Put away the wicked 
man from among you." How many covetous men are 
put away in obedience to this apostolic command ? The 
Church has greatly sinned in not dealing with them as it 
ought. The time is coming when we shall deal with them 
more faithfully. 

If this teaching is true, there must be some way of de- 
ciding who is covetous. If the Church is commanded to 
put covetous men away, it must have some way of deter- 
mining who they are. The elders of the Church must 
decide the question. How are they to decide it? I will 
tell you. If a man is doggedly unwilling, and persistently 



CHURCH FINANCES. 279 

and determinedly refuses, to give to the treasury of the 
Church of which he is a member, I will not say the exact 
amount, but at least some where in the neighborhood of 
what the disinterested of the deacons of the Church say 
he ought to give, that man is just as certainly a covetous 
man, as he lives. I feel quite certain that this is a just 
decision, because if he were not a covetous man and 
thought they were requiring too much of him, he would 
say, I think that is too much, but I do not want to be set 
down on the side of the covetous, and therefore I give it and 
I give it cheerfully. But, if he loves his money more than he 
loves his God, more than he loves the Church, and more 
than he loves his good name as a Christian, he refuses, 
and that proves what he is. let us follow that precept 
of Paul, brief but full of power, "Flee covetousness ;" 
and this means, run away from it as you would from a 
serpent in your path — from a lion or any wild beast you 
might meet in your journey. 

I am afraid that we preachers are not as faithful 
as we ought to be in dealing with this subject in 
the pulpit. I have myself tried to be, and conse- 
quently I have never yet lived and labored regularly 
for a congregation that was not a liberal one. I remem- 
ber an incident told me by an aged brother when I was a 
young preacher, which often comes to me in this con- 
nection. There was a man about to die, the richest man 
in the congregation. He sent for his preacher. "When he 
came, he said, " I want you to read and pray with me; 
I think 1 am going to die. " The preacher sat down, and 
not recalUng at once any particular passage to read, 
opened the book at random. His eye fell on this — '* Lay 
not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and 
rust do corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. 
But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven." He 



280 SERMON XX. 

said to liimself, I will not read that to the dying man ; he 
will think I am hitting at liis great failing. So he gave 
the leaves a flirt at random to another place, and the 
first passage his eye fell on, was the story of the man 
who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared 
sumptuously every day, but who, when he died and was 
in hades, lifted up his eyes in torment. He would nr^t 
read that. Then he flirted the leaves towards the back 
of the book, and the first passage was this: "But they 
that desire to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare 
and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men 
in destruction and perdition." The preacher's conscience 
began to hurt him now. He felt as if the Lord was deal- 
mg wdth him. He said to himself, maybe it is the inten- 
tion of the Lord that I should read these very passages. 
So he read this last passage ; he turned back to the story 
of the rich man and read that ; he turned back to the 
passage in the sermon on the Mount and read that ; and 
when he got through, the dying man looked up at him 
and said ; " Why haven't you called my attention iu your 
sermons to these passages? You know, and I know, 
that they strike the very sin of my life, and you have 
been unfaithful to me." Oh ! how did that preacher feel ? 
I do not want to be involved in any thing of that sort. I 
want to be faithful to men. And, brethren, bad as the 
preacher felt, how did the poor rich man feel ? I beg you, 
my dear brethren and sisters, to flee covetousness. Hate 
it. Put it away from you, and resolve that with the help 
of God you will cultivate a liberal spirit, free and liberal 
giving. If the Lord loves a cheerful giver, then place 
yourselves in the position where the Lord will love you. If 
the Lord loves you, he will take care of you. If the 
Lord loves you, no matter how much you give He will not 
let you suffer for it. He will feed you ; He will clothe 



CHURCH FINANCES. 281 

you ; He will bless your soul as well as your body ; and He 
will redeem you from death and destruction. Let us all 
act upon these true and self-evident principles, and may 
God help this congregation, and all others to get along 
more prosperously and smoothly in this respect in days to 
come. Let us remember what Christ has given to us, 
and be always ready to give freely to Him. 



SERMON XXI 



A CHUECH INSPECTED. 



^Iorninct August '2;, 1S93. 



"Fear not; I am the first and the last and the living 
one. [ was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I 
have the keys of death and of hades. Write therefore, the 
things which thou sawest, and the things which are, and 
the things which shall come to pass hereafter." 

I have read from verses 17-19 of the fii'st chapter of 
Revelation. 

We learn from Irenaeus, a noted Christian writer, who 
was born near the beginning of the second century and 
lived to the end of it, that the Book of Revelation was 
written in the year 96 of our era ; and as the Apostle 
John was very nearly of the same age with our Lord, he 
must have been about ninety-six years of age at the time. 
The circumstances under which it was written were very 
impressive. As he states in a previous verse, he had been 
a companion of the churches of Asia in tribulation and 
the patience of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he was now in 
the Isle of Patmos for the testimony of the Lord and the 
word of Jesus. This evidently means that he had been 
banished to this island as part of a persecution which 
had been visited upon these seven Churches^ and perhaps 
others. It was a lonely, rocky island ; one without soil 
to invite the agriculturist, and consequently almost unin- 
habited, lying in what we call the Archipelago, about 
twenty miles from the Asiatic shore. It was a very sad cir- 

2S2 



A CHURCH INSPECTED. 



283 



cumstance that a man of his age was thus banished from 
his friends, from his brethren, from the churches in which 
he had been laboring. When the Lord's day rolled around 
in that rocky island, he could not go to Church. There 
was no assembly of the saints in which he could enjoy 
their fellowship in the worship of God. There was no 
Lord's table spread, where he could commune with the 
Lord in the elements of his dying love. I suppose that 
John had never passed a Lord's day since great Pente- 
cost, sixty years ago, without breaking the loaf with his 
brethren ; without meeting them to sound the praise of 
God and engage in holy worship; but now he has to 
forego all these pleasures and enjoyments. Still, we learn 
from the statement of the text, that on the Lord's day he 
was in the Spirit, just as we would expect. Though alone, 
so far as all earthly fellowship was concerned, he was in 
full communion with the Spirit of God. 

Did you ever spend a Lord's day — a rainy or a stormy 
day, shut up alone, with nothing to read ? What a day 
for reminiscences ! What a day for a man to run back 
and live over all the scenes of the past which are worth 
remembering, and even those you would like to forget ! 
And do you not suppose that this old man's memory was 
at work that lonely day ? I can not think otherwise. And 
when he looked back, how varied the pathway of his long 
life. He could remember very well that morning, long 
ago, when he was fishing with his brother James, and his 
father, and the hired servants, and the new Light that 
had sprung up in Galilee came by and said, "Follow 
me." He left all and followed. How well he could re- 
member when he, and his brother James, and Peter, 
were waked up on the mountain top in the night to see the 
glorious transfiguration of the son of God, to see Moses 
and Elijah in glory, and to hear them talking about the 



284 SERMON XXI. 

coming death of Jesus. And when he sat down to the 
Lord's table to break the loaf, it was not with him as it 
is with you and me, the. recalling of something he had 
read about, but the recalling of that which he had wit- 
nessed with his own eyes, when, alone of all the male dis- 
ciples, he stood before the cross and witnessed the agony 
of his dying Saviour. How well he could remember the 
day when he and Peter went up into the temple, and, 
while Peter was delivering his second great sermon, the 
two were seized by rude soldiers and dragged away to 
prison; the day, when, a little later, all of the twelve 
were seized and dragged away to prison, and released 
with a whipping of thii'ty-nine lashes on the naked back. 
And then his brother James, his older brother, how well 
he remembered the time, fifty years ago, when the cruel 
tyrant Herod had beheaded him. And then Peter, side by 
side with whom he had fought so many battles of the Lord- 
Peter had now been nearly thirty years in the other world. 
Paul had been gone the same length of time. Indeed, it 
seems to have been the death of Paul, who had planted 
all these churches in the western part of the world, that 
caused John, about thu'ty years previous to this occasion, 
to come out west, and make his home at Ephesus, where 
he might give apostolic oversight to the churches that 
had been deprived of their apostle. His own city of Je- 
rusalem had now been a ruin for twenty-six years, and his 
nation had been scattered to the winds. When John 
thought of all these things, if he had been familiar with 
our hymn book, it seems to me that one stanza at least 
would have occurred to his mind. 

" Many friends were gathered round me 
In the bright days of the past, 
But the grave has closed above them, 
And I linger here, the last." 



A CHURCH INSPECTED. 286 

This would have made him sad, unless there had come to 
him this brighter thought, I can not linger here much 
longer, I will soon be with Jesus and my old companions. 
I do not think it possible, that in the midst of such 
reminiscences as these, John could have failed to think 
of another incident — of that morning, when, after fishing 
with six others all night and catching nothing, the Lord 
appeared on the shore and called them. He called 
them to a breakfast of broiled fish and bread, and 
doubtless they enjoyed it as only hungry and tired 
men can. When they got through, a most interest- 
ing conversation followed. When He started away, Peter, 
you remember, followed ; and Jesus said to him, " When 
thou wast young, thou didst gird thyself, and wentest 
whithersoever thou wouldst, " — a strong, independent, 
brave man — "but when thou shalt be old thou shalt 
stretch out thy hands and others shall gird thee and car- 
ry thee whither thou wouldst not;" signifying by what 
death Peter should glorify the Lord, a death with his 
hands stretched out on the cross. Peter turned and saw 
John coming. He says, " Lord, what shall this man 
do?" They were two very devoted friends, Peter and 
John. " If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that 
to thee ?" From this remark, the report went out that 
John was never to die ; that he was to live on till the 
second and final coming of the Lord. But John, who 
writes this, is careful to add, he did not say that that dis- 
ciple should not die, but, *' If I will that he tarry till I 
come, what is that to thee ? " Well, now, while John is 
spending this lonely Lord's day here on the rocky island, 
perhaps on the sea shore, looking out over the waves 
breaking at his feet, must he not have asked himself for 
perhaps the thousandth time. What did the Lord mean? 
" If T will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ?" 



286 SERMON XXI. 

I have tarried till all the others have gone ; almost another 
life time has passed away since the last of them died, 
and what does the Lord mean ? We can imagine that he 
was dwelling on that very question when he heard a voice 
behind him, which he compares in one breath to the sound 
of a trumpet, and in another to the sound of many wa- 
ters, the great waves of the sea breaking on the rocky 
shore. He turned to see, and there stood a glorious be- 
ing, unlike anything that ever walked this earth ; so glori- 
ous that John fell like a dead man at his feet. He had 
seen many a wondrous sight, but this was the most over- 
whelming that he had ever seen. And yet, while his eyes 
were still open, he saw that this being, glorious and 
wondrous as he was, looked like the Son of man. There 
was still a resemblance to his Master, though so greatly 
changed. Brethren, it seems to me that this contains a 
hint to us. When He comes, and we meet him, we shall 
be like him, we shall see him as he is ; but I think our 
old friends will say of every one of us, That looks Hke him. 
We can still be recognized. 

Falling like a dead man, John lay there until the 
strange being laid his right hand on liim, and said, 
" Fear not ; I am the first, and the last, and the living 
one ; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever- 
more, and I have the keys of death and of hades." Then 
he knew it was the Son of man ; and he knew that he had 
tarried until the Lord had come again. The Lord had 
been away from earth for sixty years or more, but he had 
come back again. John did not know at the moment 
what he had come back for, but he soon learns. Jesus 
says to him, *'Write," get your writing material and "Write 
the things which thou hast seen; the things that are, 
and the things that shall be." Write it in a book, and 
send what you write to those seven churches. He has 



A CHURCH INSPECTED. '287 

come down then, after being in heaven on his great white 
throne for sixty years, to dictate some letters to seven 
churches, to reveal through John to these churches, 
and through them to all the churches, some things that 
are yet to he. He has come to add to the revelations 
that had been closed up, another chapter — an appendix. 

The Lord proceeds first to explain the seven golden 
candlesticks in the midst of which he was standing when 
John beheld him, and the seven stars that were clus- 
tered about his right hand. He says, these seven gol- 
den candlesticks are the seven churches.' Brethren, why 
did the Lord select a golden candlestick to represent a 
church ? The church is planted in every community to 
give light, as the candlestick holds up the light for all 
in the apartment ; and in the eye and mind of the great 
Head of the Church, one of His congregations here on 
earth must not be represented by a tin candlestick, or 
one of pewter, or one of brass, or one of silver. It must 
be represented by pure gold. my brethren, that 
shows the Lord's estimate of a church that bears his 
name, and honors it ; pure gold — nothing less can be a 
fair symbol of a church of the living God. You do not 
know how bright and beautiful a thing, in the eyes of 
heaven, a faithful church is. You find fault with it some- 
times. Be careful. 

And he says, " The seven stars in my right hand 
are" — as it is translated in our version — " the angels of 
the seven churches." The Greek word commonly trans- 
lated angel, is so rendered correctly when it refers to 
one of the heavenly beings ; but when it refers to an earth- 
ly being, as it often does, the correct rendering of it is 
messenger. When John sent messengers to Jesus from 
his prison, they are called by the same Greek word trans- 
lated angels, called messengers because they were hu- 



^88 SERMON XXI. 

man beings ; and ^vhen the Saviour, going toward Jeru- 
salem, sent messengers before iiis face to prepare lodging 
for Him and His twelve disciples, the same word is there 
rendered messengers, because they were men. We are 
to determine whether angel or messenger should be the word 
in English by ascertaining whom it represents. I do not 
learn from any other portion of the Scripture anjrthing 
about an angel of a church; that is, a heavenly mes- 
senger for a church ; but the churches did often send human 
messengers, one of their own number or more than one, 
and I tliink there is an excellent reason to suppose that 
these seven chui'ches sent messengers to John at this 
time. Now, think of it. Here is the old Apostle, ninety 
odd years of age, who was looked up to as a spiritual 
father by all the living church at that time, because he was 
the only one of the twelve apostles yet alive, and he was 
most tenderly beloved by all. When he wrote his epis- 
tles, he called all the brethren and sisters his little chil- 
dren — even the oldest. He is banished from their midst 
on that island out there, which you can see in a clear day 
if you stand upon a high hill on the main shore. Do you 
suppose they went right on with their daily routine of 
business, and theii' weekly church meetings, and never 
made any inquiry about the old man, as to whether he 
was sick or well, alive or dead ; whether he had the neces- 
sary comforts of life ? I suppose it likely that I address 
some fathers and mothers here to-day, if not, I do some 
brothers and sisters, who remember the time when there 
was a boy up yonder on Johnson's Island in Lake Erie, 
or one in Camp Chase, at Chicago. Did you want to 
know something about him ? Did you want to find out 
from week to week whether he was sick or well; alive or 
dead? Did you try to communicate with him when 
armed guards stood around his camp to keep you from 



A CHURCH INSPECTED. 289 

getting something to him, and getting a message back 
from liim? Well now, if these churches let that old 
Apostle remain out there without trying to communicate 
with liim; without sending somebody out in a boat, or in 
some way, to see how the old man was, to carry some 
comforts to him, and to get a message from him, they 
would not have deserved the name of Christians. I am 
sure they sent. In a calm day, when the waters are 
smooth — I sailed six days on the Adriatic Sea with 
scarcely a ripple on the surface the whole time — it would 
be easy for a strong man to row out there and get the 
news, and a brave man would take the risk of a sudden 
storm. And whom would the churches send as a messen- 
ger to the old Apostle ? Would they pick out some giddy 
headed, thoughtless youth ? Some careless and in- 
different member of the church ? I suppose not. I suppose 
they would select some mature, strong, brave member, 
who would be a congenial companion for the Apostle 
when he got there, who could enter into full sympathy 
with him, and who would remember well the blessed 
words that he would send back to them. In other 
words, they would send some choice spirit of the church. 
And so I am sure they did. 

And now the Lord says, " These seven stars are the 
messengers of these seven churches;" and this gives us 
some idea how Christ regards those true, strong, brave, 
faithful men in the church. Paul's estimate was placed 
upon them when he said of certain brethren concerning 
whom he speaks in Second Corinthians, "If any man 
inquires of these brethren, tell them that they are the 
messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ.'* 
Think now of three men who are messengers of the 
churches being the glory of Christ. That is what Paul 
styled them. And Jesus depicts them as bright stars, so 



290 



ser:\iox XXI. 



bright that they shone iu the day time, clustered about 
His right hand, which holds them up. Brethren, that is 
Christ's estimate of those men in a church, to whom the 
brethren and sisters look as leaders, on whom they lay 
responsibility when some important mission is to be ex- 
ecuted ; the choice spirits of the church of God. They 
are bright stars in the eyes of the great Head of the 
Church, and His own almighty right hand upholds them. 
Do not speak lightly of suck men. Eaise your hat in 
their presence; honor them and love them. what 
would the church be if all men of that class were taken 
out of it ? What would become of the rest of us ? Here 
then the Saviour reveals to this old Apostle a fact which 
might be expressed in these words : Though I have been 
up yonder in Heaven seated on the throne, all the angels 
worshipping me, and all the worlds under my control, I 
at the same time have been walking about among my 
churches, the golden candlesticks, and I have had my 
right hand held out all the time to hold up the brave, 
true men that have contended for my name and my honor 
in the midst of an accusing world. 

Now He says "Write." I wish I had time to call your 
attention to all seven of the letters that He now dictates. 
We shall speak of only one. 

'' To the angel — to the messenger — of the Church of 
Ephesus, write." There has been a great deal of discus- 
sion about how the inspired penmen were directed by the 
Holy Spirit in writing. There can not be any discussion 
about these epistles. They are really the epistles of the 
Lord Jesus Himself — the only documents He ever wrote. 
And He wrote them just in the same w^ay that Paul wrote 
the epistles to the Eomans. Paul spoke, and Tertius the 
scribe wrote down the words as they fell from his lips. 
Now Jesus speaks, and John with pen in hand, writes 



A CHURCH INSPECTED. 291 

down the words as they fall from His lips. And when that 
letter was written, and carried by that good man to 
Ephesus, it was a letter from the Lord Jesus Christ to the 
church at Ephesus. "When he returned, of course the 
brethren and sisters gathered around and asked him how 
the Apostle was. How is the good old father John? Is 
he alive ? Is he well ? And these questions were answered. 
But then the man held up the precious document — it 
could all be written on a piece of paper as large as my 
hand — He says, " Here is a letter that the Lord Jesus 
has dictated, and John has written, and given it to me to 
bring home; and it is a letter addressed to our church." 
What an interesting document to the members of that 
congregation. If this church he-re on Broadway should 
receive a letter known to have been written by the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and addressed to this church, with 
what trembling anxiety we should all wish to read it ! 

When the next Lord's day rolled around — or perhaps 
they did not wait till Lord's day — the news had buzzed 
around all through the city that this letter had been re- 
ceived, and when the hour of meeting came, I judge that no 
member of that church was absent that day. They were 
all present with breathless anxiety. The good man stands 
up at the appointed hour to read the letter to them. It 
begins thus: '* These things saith he that holdeth the 
seven stars in his right hand ; and that walketh in the 
midst of the seven golden candlesticks." This of course 
needed explanation, and the reader had to stop and 
explain it, as it was explained to John. **I know thy 
works, and thy toil and patience. " And that made the 
minds of the brethren run back upon all the works they 
had done, upon all the toil they had passed through 
as a church, and all the patience that they had shown in 
bearing up under the ills and disappointments of life. 



292 SERMON XXI. 

And the Lord says, I know that. I was watching ; I was 
not far off, out of reach, or out of sympathy with you. 
And he means too, that he approved of it. That was 
cheering. 

** And I know that thou canst not bear evil men, 
and didst try them who called themselves apostles, and 
are not, and didst find them false." Here is an al- 
lusion to what must have been a terrible crisis in the 
history of that church. It seems from the words em- 
ployed, that there had come among them men who claimed 
to be apostles. They must have been venerable men. 
They must have had the appearance of wise and good 
men, to set up such a claim. I suppose that they did not 
claim to be some of the original twelve — such a claim 
would be too preposterous — but of the class like Barnabas 
and Silas, who were called Apostles in a secondary sense. 
Such men had come among them, and of course when 
they first came, everybody was glad to see them. Every- 
body was glad to hear them speak, and pray; glad to 
sit at their feet and learn from them. But bye-and-bye 
there arose suspicions in the minds of some, as to whether 
they were not impostors ; and don't you know that the 
first man who whispered that suspicion was met with 
sh — sh? Don't whisper anything against such good men 
as these. But the suspicion arose again, here and there, 
and the watchful elders whom Paul had told to watch 
against just such persons, began to feel sure that these 
men were not what they pretended to be, and they took 
the necessary steps for their exposure. They are exposed 
and found to be false, and cast out of the church. No 
church ever passed through such a scene as that without 
some of the members feeling. Perhaps we did wrong. Per- 
haps we were too severe with them. But now, after a 
a good long time had passed, the Lord Jesus, who knew 



A CHURCH INSPECTED. 293 

their works, their toil, and their patience, applauds them. 
He applauds them because they could not bear evil men, 
and had tried those men, and found them false. In 
other words, he applauds that church for the strict disci- 
pline which it had maintained. They did not tolerate 
in their membership, wicked men. No matter what the 
plausible appearance of their lives and professions was, 
they were detected in their falsehood, exposed and cast 
out. And for that the Lord applauds them. Brethren, I 
am afraid that there are a good many churches in our 
day, who, if they should receive a letter from the Lord 
Jesus, would not hear such applause as that. Let us re- 
member that the Lord is still inspecting His churches. 

The reader goes on, and I think that before he read 
the next sentence, the good man must have paused and 
taken a long breath ; for, here it is : ** But, I have this 
against thee." And what is it ? ** That thou didst leave 
thy first love." When those words, "first love"- fell upon 
their ears, what a quickening of memory ! How quickly 
they carried the mind of every member back to 
that blessed hour, when, first having confessed the 
Saviour and turned away from sin, and been buried in 
baptism, and risen to walk in the new life, the love that 
filled the soul passed all understanding, and made every- 
thing on earth appear in a new light, — when the love 
of God, and the love of men, overflowed with tears of 
gratitude and thanksgiving. " Thou hast left thy first 

love." 

" Where is the blessedness I knew 
When first I saw the Lord ? 
Where is the soul refreshing view 

Of Jesus and his Word? 
What peaceful hours I once enjoyed — 

How sweet their memory still ; 
But they have left an aching void 
The world can never fill." 



294 sERr.ioN XXI. 

That is the sad wail of a soul which has left its first love. 
It was enough in the way of reproach ; the remedy follows 
next. There must be a remedy for that departure. The 
remedy is, "Eemember therefore from whence thou art fall- 
en, and repent, and do the first works." brethren, that is 
the way to get back to the first love. That is the divine 
recipe. If you have fallen, remember the fair heights to 
which you had attained, repent, and then go to doing 
those first zvorks. How did you act when that first love 
had complete sway in your soul? Go back to reading 
the Bible the way you did then. Go back to praying the 
way you did then. Go back to the regularity of attend- 
ing church that characterized you then. Go back to the 
freedom and the gladness with which you gave to the 
Lord and to the poor. Go back to doing just the way 
you did when your heart was filled with the love of God, 
and then you will have that love again. That is the way 
to recover it — the only way. " Do the first works," says 
Jesus, "or else I come to thee, and will move thy candle- 
stick out of its place, except thou repent." There will be 
one church less in Asia. And this shows us that if a 
church leaves its first love, and does not return to it, it 
will not very long continue to be a church. It wiU die. 
Love is the life of a Christian ; it is the life of a church ; 
love to God and love to man. 

After these heart-searching sentences, there comes 
another of a different tone, calculated to revive the spirits 
which had sunk under the withering rebuke just adminis- 
tered. "But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works 
of Nicolaitanes, which I also hate." Well, that is rather 
singular language to come from the Lord Jesus. Com- 
mending the brethren and sisters for hating something, 
and saying that he hates it too. We know very little 
about those Nicolaitanes, but the earliest Greek writers 



A CHURCH INSPECTED. "295 

give "QS the idea that they did some things which were 
calculated to encourage lasciviousness and immorality, 
under some kind of specious, false pretence that as our 
natural passions are given us by the Creator, it can not 
be sinful to gratify them. Now these brethren hated 
all that. They were so elevated in their ideas of 
Christian morality, that anything which had a tendency 
to break down the restraints upon our passions, 
and give a loose rein to them, they hated, and the Lord 
hated it. There are some things tolerated in our day, 
my brethren, of this class. There are some exhibitions 
on the stage ; there are some things in society which have 
this tendency ; and instead of being encouraged and in- 
dulged in by the disciples of the Lord, we ought to hate 
them. Euinous, terrible fruits they are bringing forth in 
the lives and characters of young people. We are not to 
hate any man, but we are to hate the things that under- 
mine and ruin the characters of men and women. The 
brethren in Ephesus felt better when they heard this. 

Finally, the brief epistle closes : '* He that hath an 
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches," 
and this revealed to them that what was here said to 
Ephesus, was intended for all the other churches ; intend- 
ed for our churches. We are to gather the same lesson. 
And now, to animate the brethren, cheer them, lead them 
on to other victories, and other work yet lying before 
them, this touching epistle closes with these words: *'To 
him that overcometh, I will give to eat of the tree of life, 
which is in the paradise of God." I will not restore him 
to the lost Eden which Adam and Eve enjoyed ; I will not 
allow him to go back and eat of that tree of life which 
might cause them to live forever in this wicked world, but 
'^ I will give him to eat of the tree of life which is in the 
paradise of God,'' in God's garden of delight ; in the 



29fi SERMON XXI. 

paradise where God lives. The tree of life that is 
there, enables him who eats of it to live forevermore in 
the presence of his Maker, where all is peace and joy and 
blessedness. This is the inducement to the man 
who will overcome. Overcome the devil in his tempta- 
tions ; overcome the world in its wicked influences ; over- 
come his own flesh in its tendency to drag him down. 
Eise above all these, trample all evil beneath his feet, and 
win a glorious victory in the name of God. ** I, " says 
Jesus on the throne of heaven, " will give that man the 
privilege of eating of the tree of life, which is in the para- 
dise of God." 

0, my brethren, is that inducement enough for you ? 
Is that incentive enough to keep us toiling and labor- 
ing, and bearing with patience, and doing our best to 
please Him who has called us to life and joy? If it is, 
then act, and take courage ; never be dismayed ; never 
murmur; never grow low-spirited amidst the toils and 
struggles and pains and disappointments of this life ; for 
every one of these is leading you a little nearer to the day 
when you will eat of the tree of life which is in the para- 
dise of God. 



SERMON XXIL 



THE RIVER JORDAN. 



Evening August 27. 1893. 



I now read a few verses in the third chapter of Mat- 
thew. I will read the first six verses, then pass on to 
the thirteenth, and thence read to the seventeenth. 

"And in those days cometh John the Baptist, preaching 
in the wilderness of Judea, saying, Repent ye ; for the king- 
dom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken 
of by Isaiah the prophet, saying. The voice of one crying in 
the wilderness, Make ye ready the way of the Lord, make 
his paths straight. Now John himself had his raiment of 
camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his 
food was locusts and wild honey. Then went out unto him 
Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about 
Jordan ; and they were baptized of hina in the river Jordan, 
confessing their sins. * * Then cometh Jesus from Galilee 
to the Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John 
would have hindered him, saying, I have need to be bap- 
tized of thee, and comest thou to me? But Jesus answer- 
ing said unto him, ^Suffer it now : for thus it becometh us to 
fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffereth him. And Jesus, 
when he was baptized, went up straightway from the water, 
and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the 
Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him ; 
and lo, a voice out of the heavens, saying. This is my be- 
loved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 

The river Jordan is the most famous river on the earth. 
It does not owe its fame, like our own Mississippi, to its 
great length, or to the rich commerce that flows upon its 
bosom; for the whole distance from the source to the 

297 



298 ser:\ion xxii. 

mouth of the Jordan in an air Une, is only about one 
hundred miles, and no boat for commercial purposes ever 
floated upon its waters. It does not owe its fame, like 
the Nile, to the fact that its overflow every year makes 
fertile a land which would otherwise be a desert ; for the 
waters of the Jordan have never been utilized for irrigat- 
ing purposes. Neither does it owe its fame, like the 
Tiber or the Seine or the Thames, to the fact that some 
great city like Kome or Paris or London has stood on its 
banks ; for no city, not even a village, was ever built on 
the banks of the Jordan — nothing, indeed, except the 
temporary hut of the ferryman, which may be washed 
away in the spring, and rebuilt when the flood is over. 

To what, then, does this most famous of all the rivers 
on the face of the globe owe its fame ? To three consid- 
erations: first, to its peculiar physical characteristics; 
second, to the historic events that are connected with it ; 
and third, to an association of thought connected with it 
in the minds of believers. 

My discourse will consist in tracing out the way in 
which it has derived its fame from these three sources, 
and connecting with this some reflections which I hope 
will be profitable to us. 

And first, the peculiarities of the Jordan as a river. 
All the other rivers of the world rise in some elevated 
region, flow on by gradual descent until they reach the 
level of the ocean, and there come to rest. The Jordan 
is unlike all other rivers in this particular. Its prin- 
cipal source is an enormous spring of icy cold water 
which bursts up from the ground, being supplied by the 
melting snows of Mount Hermon, and flows off a large 
stream. That spring is a few hundred feet above the 
level of the sea. The waters issuing from it, and from 
two other large springs supplied by the snows from the 



THE EIVER JORDON. 299 

same mountain, unite together a few miles south of this 
central source, and form a little lake, called in the Bible 
"the waters of Merom," but by the present inhabitants 
"Lake Huleh," a lake three miles wide and four miles 
long, not very deep. The surface of that lake lies on a 
level with the Mediterranean sea, thirty miles to the 
west. The Jordan starts out at the southern end of this 
lake, and runs south ten miles and a half, when it enters 
into the lake of Galilee. In running those ten and a half 
miles, it has sunk six hundred and eighty feet, so that 
the surface of the lake of Galilee, so precious in the mem- 
ory of all who have read the life of our Saviour, lies six 
hundred and eighty feet below the level of the ocean. 
Out of the southern end of that lake, which is twelve 
miles long, the river starts again toward the south, wind- 
ing in its course like the coils of a serpent, and, after tra- 
versing an air line of sixty-five miles, enters into the northern 
end of the Dead Sea. Now it has sunk down, do^^n, until, 
when its water comes to rest on the surface of that sea, it 
is thirteen hundred feet below the ocean's level ; so that, 
unlike all the other rivers of the earth, though it rises 
somewhat above, the ocean's level, nearly the whole of its 
course is below that, and it sinks down until it fills a 
deep chasm called the Dead Sea, which is the lowest 
lying water on the face of the globe. The whole of its 
course, from the lake of Galilee to the Dead Sea, is 
through a valley varying in width from four to fourteen 
miles, and hemmed in on either side by mountains that 
rise from fifteen hundred to three thousand feet, so that 
that valley of the Jordan is the lowest land on the face of 
the globe, the Jordan is the lowest river, the Dead Sea 
the lowest water. It would appear to a man standing on 
the mountain ridge on either side and looking across that 
deep, narrow chasm, as though at some early period the 



300 SERMON YXIi. 

crust of the earth had been rent asunder and the gap 
only partially filled up, drawing into it this stream which 
forms the three bodies of water of which I have spoken. 
The Dead Sea, as you have heard ever since you were 
children at school, has no outlet, and you can see at once 
that if it had any connection with the great body of seas 
and oceans, it would be an inlet. If, as Chinese Gordon 
proposed a few years ago, a canal were cut so that the 
waters of the Mediterranean Sea might pour in, they 
would swell the surface of the Dead Sea thirteen hundred 
feet up the sides of the mountains on either side ; they 
would rise above the valley of the Jordan proportionately ; 
the river Jordan would disappear ; the Dead Sea and the 
Lake of Galilee would disappear ; and in the place of these 
a long body of sea water would divide western from east- 
ern Palestine. These characteristics distinguish the Jor- 
dan from all the other rivers of the earth, and make its 
formation a profound study to the geologist — one that has 
never yet been explained in attempting to trace back the 
history of this old world. 

But the events that have transpired in connection 
with the history of the Jordan, have done much more 
than this to give it its fame, for the facts which I have 
recited to you were not known until recent times ; indeed, 
the first man who ever passed from the lake of Galilee 
along the river to the Dead Sea, took the levels of both, 
sounded the depths of the latter, and obtained these 
figures, was a Lieutenant of our own American Navy (Lieu- 
tenant Lynch), who was permitted by our Government, 
just after the close of the Mexican war, to take ten sea- 
men and two boats, one of iron and one of copper, and 
make this exploration. He transported his boats to the 
Lake of Galilee, launched them upon that water, de- 
scended the river in them, and made the learned world 
acquainted with these facts. 



THE RIYER JOEDON. 301 

Let US turn, now, to the second source, and look at 
the events which have made this river so famous. When 
Moses had led the children of Israel through the forty 
years of their wanderings in the desert, he brought them 
down, a short time before his death, into the deep valley 
of the Jordan, just above the entrance of the river into 
the northern end of the Dead Sea. There the valley is 
fourteen miles wide — seven miles -between the river on 
the west and the mountains that rise up toward Jerusa- 
lem, and seven miles from the river to the mountains on 
the east, which rise up to the elevated pasture lands of 
Moab. Marching down from those heights, he pitched 
his camp in what is called in the Bible the Plain of Moab. 
It is a plain about seven miles wide from east to west, as 
we have said, and about eight miles in length from north 
to south. Four or five streams, supplied by springs in 
the ravines of those mountains, flow across this plain 
and empty into the Jordan. There, on that plain seven 
by eight miles, and well supplied with water, was the last 
encampment of the twelve tribes before the death of 
Moses ; and while they were still encamped there, the 
Word of the Lord came to Moses, saying, " Go thou up 
upon Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, and view the land. 
And there thou shalt die, for thou shalt not go over with 
the people of Israel to possess that land, because thou 
didst sin against me at the waters of Meribah." When 
Moses received that command he could look up from 
where he stood to the summit of Nebo, in the southeast, 
appearing from the view below to be the tallest mountain 
in the Moab range. I camped in that valley from Satur- 
day forenoon till Monday forenoon. There stood Mt. 
Nebo towering above us, with Pisgah, one of three knobs 
in which the summit terminates. The tall form of Moses 
was soon seen passing through the camp toward the mount- 



302 SERMON XXII. 

ain; and when lie stoo.l on the top of Pisgah, and looked 
out over the promised land, he was visible, like a speck 
against the sky, to the whole of that camp. He could 
also look down on every tent of those three miUions of 
people, for whom he had suffered so much, and for whom, 
in their days of sin and wickedness, he had offered to sac- 
rifice his life. It was a solemn moment, and what a 
strange experience, after taking that last view of the prom- 
ised land, to fold his arms and lie down upon the mountain 
top, and,without a pain, breath out his soul into the arms 
of his God ! And God buried him. If there was a funer- 
al procession, it was a procession of angels. A worthy 
death for that most magnanimous man. 

Thii'ty days were spent in moui-ning for Moses, and 
then the- command came to Joshua, "Command the 
children of Israel to prepare food; for in three days 
ye shall pass over this Jordan,*' Now, if a message out 
of the heavens, sent down by a cohort of angels, should 
reach the people of Louisville some day, commanding 
the whole host of them to arise on the third morning and 
march in solid phalanx across the Ohio nver, it would 
not be one whit more startling than that command was to 
Joshua and the twelve tribes; ior did you notice the 
statement of the text, " The Jordan was overflowing all 
its banks," which it does through harvest. In order to 
understand how the river appeared when it was thus out 
of its banks, let me state that the valley fourteen miles 
wide, lies about seventy-five feet higher than the bed of 
the river. As you walk across the vaUey toward the 
river, you come to a bluff, not veiy steep usually — in some 
places too steep for a horse to go down, in others a grad- 
ual slope — and you look down seventy-five feet into a 
river bottom, from a half mile to a mile wide. Now a 
river which falls as rapidly as the Jordan (falling nearly 



THE RIVER JORDON. dUO 

seven hundred feet in sixty miles) has a rapid current 
when it is low ; but when it is so swollen that it leaves its 
crooked channel, and its waters rush in a direct line to- 
ward their resting place, we can see at once with what a 
terrific force it plunges along. And as that valley is full of 
small trees and underbrush, thick and rank of growth, you 
can see that, as the water would be tearing its way over 
the brush and the tree tops, it would be a fearful sight to 
look at, and to think of marching across it would appear 
preposterous. I would rather undertake to get across the 
calm Ohio ; and yet these people were commanded to rise 
the third morning and march across that river, and the 
priests were commanded to take the ark and march be- 
fore them. I wonder how many people in Louisville 
would try to go across under such a command ! But the 
Israelites obeyed — on the third morning every tent was 
struck for an early march. The people were assembled 
in long lines up and down the river, and by what sol- 
diers would call a flank movement, they advanced, the 
priests keeping two thousand cubits ahead ; and we are 
told that when the priests went down the steep and their 
feet dipped in the brim of the river, the water moved 
away as they advanced ; it was cut off on the right, and 
ran out toward the sea, and the river was empty. It was 
no easy task even then to get down the steep slope ; to 
struggle through the wet brush and the mud, and climb 
down into the channel of the river. Perhaps they had 
to use some of their axes and shovels and spades ; and 
then they must climb up the ascent on the other side be- 
fore sunset that evening. But, hard as the labor was, 
before the sun had gone down, in the simple style of our 
book, "All the people had passed clean over the Jordan." 
The priests were standing in the middle of the channel 
all this time, and when they came up, the mighty river 
resumed its course. 



304 SERMON XXII. 

Do you believe that ? I recollect that when our war 
was going on, a little creek there in Virginia swelled, and 
stopped the movements of McClelland's one hundred 
thousand men when he was about to take Richmond; I 
remember again and again that those mighty armies that 
were struggling in Virginia for the mastery were impeded 
by a night's rain making those Httle, streams impassable 
to them ; and it is true that not all the armies, nor the 
millions of soldiers in all the armies of Europe, if they 
were here on the banks of this Ohio river, could cut it off 
or get rid of its water so as to walk across on dry ground. 
Consequently, when some men read of an event like this, 
they shake their heads — that is too big a miracle to be 
credible ! And why ? If there is a God who created the 
heaven and the earth, who now rules over them, and who 
does his own pleasure among the armies and nations of 
men, and among the stars and the planets, surely there 
is a power sufficient for this ; and the only question is 
whether there was an occasion or a reason to justify the 
Almighty God in thus stretching out His arm. He declared 
to Joshua, *' This day I will begin to magnify thee in the 
sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with 
Moses, so I will be with thee." He is going to do something 
to prove that. He said to Israel, " Hereby ye shall know 
that the living God is among you." Now how could that 
be ? How can God show to a people, beyond all possi- 
bility of doubt, that He is among them ? The answer you 
are ready to give is this : Only by doing something that 
none but God can do. If something had been done that 
might be accounted for by the forces of nature, men would 
have believed that the forces of nature did it. If some- 
thing had been done that could be accomplished by the 
ingenuity of men or of angels, they might have thought 
that men or angels did it ; but if something is done that 
none but the Almighty God can do, then men know that 



THE RIVER JORDON. 305 

the living God is among them of a truth ; and this is what 
was done. There was an occasion, then, for it, and it 
was the only thing, or something like it, that could be 
done to demonstrate the great truth which they were 
made to believe. 

And then, another thing : have you never raised the 
question as you were studying this passage. Why didn't 
the Canaanites assemble an army on the bank of the 
river and dispute. the passage of it — fight them back as 
they were struggling through? There is a very good 
reason: they knew very well that the Jordan would 
be overflowing its banks all through the time of harvest, 
and the harvest was on, and they were busy getting in 
their grain. We will go, every one, now, and gather all 
of our grain, and put it away ; then, the early summer 
work being over, every man that can bear a weapon will 
go down to the bank of the Jordan, and before it will be 
possible for them to cross the river, we will be there to 
meet them. I suppose that was the policy of the kings 
of Canaan ; so they went on contentedly with the harvest. 
But when they looked down from the hill-tops that day 
and saw that mighty host coming up out of the river in 
long lines of dark and white, and saw them pitch their 
tents on this side, and knew that the river was still swol- 
len, another design that God had comes into view. In the 
language of Eahab, "there was no longer any spirit " in 
the Canaanites-. Their souls sank within them. They, 
too, saw that Jehovah, the God of Israel, was among that 
people, and they never did recover from the effects of the 
fright which it gave them. This made Joshua's victories 
far easier than they otherwise could have been. This, 
now, is the first of that series of events (only some of 
which I am going to recite to you) which have made the 
Jordan the famous river that it is. 

20 



306 SERMON XXII. 

The people were settled in the land of Canaan, every 
man with his piece of land as an inheritance to his chil- 
dren through all generations ; and is it not wonderful that 
a people who had heen thus guided through the wilder- 
ness, led across the Eed Sea, across the Jordan, planted, 
by the help of God, in a land that was not their own, and 
made rich and prosperous in it, could ever forget that 
God and cease to worship him? But, strange as it is, 
the time came when they turned away from him. Ahab 
was king of Israel. He married a heathen woman, who 
was a devotee of a false worship. He made the great 
mistake of his life, as many another man has done since, 
in the wife that he married; and a great many more 
women have made the mistake of their lives in the 
husbands they have married. He brought to the throne 
of God's people a heathen queen, and she brought with 
her the prophets of her false religion, and set up a temple ; 
and that false God was worshipped in the capital of the 
Jewish nation. That was an aristocratic government; 
and it was then just as it is now — a very large portion of 
the people put on and put off theu* religion the way they 
do the fashions. When the queen was a Baal worshiper 
of course all the ladies of the court had to be ; and when 
the queen and the ladies of the court were Baal worship- 
ers, all the women in every little city and, town through- 
out the land who wished to be in the style became Baal 
worshipers ; and w hen all the women that wanted to be 
m the style became Baal worshipers, all their husbands, 
and all their sons, and all their daughters became Baal 
worshipers. Why not? "Better be out of the world 
than out of the fashion." And so Baal worship became 
the worship of the land. There were some old-fashioned 
prophets who did their best to stop that change of things ; 
they cried out against it with all their might, but wh^n 



THE RIYER JORDON. 307 

it came to confronting Jezebel, she overpowered them. 
She murdered some of them, and many others went and 
hid in caves, and had their friends bring them bread and 
water to keep them from starving. There was only one 
man left at last, who was standing up in that nation and 
crying out with unterrified voice against this abomination. 
That was the prophet Elijah, and he at last was com- 
pelled to flee for his life, away off to the rocky fastnesses 
of Mt. Horeb. He is hidden in a cave, when God calls 
and says to him, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" He 
answers, *'0 Lord, the people of Israel have forsaken 
thy covenant ; they have digged down thine altars, and 
slain thy prophets, and I alone am left, and they are seek- 
ing my life to take it away." Now this was a man who 
would not give up ; he would not yield to the wrong when 
all the world, so far as he knew, had gone over on the 
other side. He staid to fight the battle of the Lord as 
long as there was any possibility of accomplishing any- 
thing, and only when it was to save his own hfe did he 
flee to that cave in the mountain. Now God wanted the 
world to know what he thinks of a man like that ; a man 
who would stand up for the truth against the whole world, 
when he had to stand alone. So, when the proper time 
came, Elijah, with his younger prophet and servant, Eli- 
sha, was at Gilgal. He says, "Elisha, tarry here, I pray 
thee ; for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel." And 
Elisha says, "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, 
I will not leave thee " ; and he followed him to Bethel. 
When they got up to Bethel, " Elisha, tarry here, I pray 
thee; for the Lord has sent me to Jericho." "As the 
Lord God liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave 
thee"; and he followed him to Jericho. This brought 
them down into the Jordan valley, just seven miles from 
the river. There some young prophets came to Elisha, 



308 SERMON XXU. 

and said, "Knowest thou that the Lord will take away 
thy master from thy head to-day?" *'Yes, I know it; 
hold your peace ; " and here comes out the secret reason 
why he would not stay behind. So Elijah says, "Elisha, 
tarry here, I pray thee ; for the Lord has sent me to the 
Jordan." "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I 
will not leave thee ; " and he followed him to the Jordan. 
Fifty stout young men of Jericho also followed the two 
prophets as far as the bluff, and saw them go down to the 
river. When they reached the river, the very section of 
it which emptied itself to let Joshua's army through, 
Elijah draws his mantle from his shoulders and smites the 
river, and it opens. Once more that river opens in obe- 
dience to its Maker. The two prophets pass through and 
come up in Joshua's old camp, and under the shadow of 
Mt. Nebo; and as they walked across the plain, a whirl- 
wind comes tearing along, and when the circle of it strikes 
the two prophets, Elijah is in a chariot of fire, and drawn 
by horses of fh-e, and they go whirling round and round, 
up and up, until he disappears like a speck in the sky. 
The younger prophet exclaims, ''My father, my father; 
the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof ! " And 
when he looked down, he saw that mantle which had opened 
the water. He took it up, and drew it across his own 
shoulders, and went back. When he came to the river, he 
drew it from about him, and said, ** Where is Jehovah, 
the God of Elijah?" He again walked through. He 
comes to where the fifty prophets are, who have been 
seeing all this. They say, "Let us go and seek thy Mas- 
ter; perad venture the Spirit of Jehovah shall cast him on 
some mountain or into some valley." " Don't go." 
They begged that they might go. Finally he says, " Go ; " 
and those fifty men went (for they could see where he had 
dropped, if he had dropped at all), and they searched 



THE RIVER JORDON. 309 

three days in those mountains to find the body of Ehjah. 
When they returned Elisha said, "Did I not say to you, 
*Go not.'" They had not dreamed up to that time, that 
the body of a man might be taken to another world. 
They believed in the departure to God of the spirits of 
those who die, but now they have learned that God has 
a place somewhere, far away beyond the sight of men, 
where both the body and the soul may dwell with Him. 
And thus God declared to that generation and to this, 
and to all the generations to come, that when there is a 
man on this earth so true and brave and strong that he is 
willing to stand for God and for righteousness against the 
whole world in arms and never flinch, that man is too 
precious in the eyes of God for death to seize the body 
and worms to devour it. 0, that we had more men like 
Elijah ! The world is suffering and dying for brave men, 
strong men, true men, who will never flinch though 
pressed by every foe. 

The last prophet who spoke in the Old Testament, and 
whose words were written down, closes the long line of 
prophetic utterances with these words: "Behold, before 
the great and terrible day of the Lord come, I will send 
you the prophet Elijah, and he shall turn the hearts of 
the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children 
to their fathers ; lest I come and smite the earth with a 
curse." The Jews believed that he meant the real Elijah 
who had gone to heaven ; that he was coming back again ; 
but as we learn from the New Testament, that prophetic 
utterance had reference to another, called Elijah because 
within him was the Spirit and the power of Elijah; and 
when that second Elijah (John the Baptist) came and be- 
gan his mighty work, he began on the bank of the river 
Jordan, in the wilderness — and that word wilderness 
marks the last seven or eight miles of the river's course. 



310 SERMON XXII. 

And so the surface of that same section of the river that 
had opened for Joshua's army, that had opened itself for 
the prophets, is broken by those whom John baptized. He 
preached there, and the people came flocking out of the 
cities in vast multitudes to hear his preaching. We have 
men in our day who preach to vast audiences — Spurgeon, 
for many years, to five thousand people every Lord's 
day in his tabernacle in London ; Beecher, in his gi-eat 
church in Brooklyn, and others; and where do these 
men preach who have multitudes hanging on their 
lips ? They preach in the great cities where the people 
live close about them. Not so with John. He went to 
the banks of the Jordan, began his preaching in the wil- 
derness, and emptied the cities. No preacher that ever 
preached has produced such an effect as that. When I 
was there, I was glad to get away as soon as I satisfied 
my curiosity, to escape the pest of gnats, flies, and mos- 
quitoes, and the intense heat ; for down in that deep val- 
ley, with the mountains on either side to shut off the 
breeze, the summer's heat is suffocating. Eight there 
in that kind of a place this great preacher gathered 
throngs out of every city in the land; and there they 
stayed day after day, night after night, month after month, 
the great multitudes hanging on the lips of the great 
preacher. Nothing like it has ever been known in the 
history of this world. 

While this excitement and interest were at their 
height, one day the listening throng saw a young man 
of unpretending appearance walk straight through the 
crowd and stand before the great preacher. To their 
amazement the great preacher shrinks in that young 
man's ptresence. "I have need to be baptized of 
thee. Comest thou to me ? " With a calm voice the 
young man, who has no tear of penitence in his eye, no 



THE RIVER JORDON. 311 

tremor in his voice, no confession of sins, says to the 
preacher, " Suffer it now, John. For thus it becometh 
us to fulfill all rip;liteousness." Then, with a trem- 
bling hand, the great preacher leads this young man down 
into the water, lowers him beneath the wave, and lifts 
him up again. He walks out. He kneels down upon 
upon the shore, and lifts his eyes and his hands toward 
heaven in prayer. While the people gaze and wonder, 
they hear a sound in the sky. They look up. There 
comes down, with the movements of a dove, white and 
beautiful, the Spirit of the great God. It rests upon the 
young man's head, and enters into him ; and the sound 
they heard was the voice of the eternal God, breaking the si- 
lence of the heavens that had not been broken since that 
day of Mt. Sinai. The voice proclaims, " This is my Son,the 
Beloved, in whom I am well pleased." And thus, on the 
banks of that same river, where it had opened for Joshua's 
army, where it had opened for the prophets, there under 
the shadow of Mt. Nebo, the heavens were opened, and 
the great God makes known to the listening world that 
the son of Mary is His Son, and introduces in a grand 
and wondrous way the world's Redeemer. This was the 
last and the crowning glory of the river Jordan. And 
are not these enough to make it the famous river that it 
is? 

But now we pass on, and will treat more briefly, by far, 
the last source of this wondrous river's fame. It is the 
association which connects it in the minds of Christians 
with that which is very dear and precious to every Chris- 
tian heart, when we sing that good old song, 
" On Jordan's stormy banks T stand, 

And cast a wishful eye ; 
To Cauaan's fair and happy laud, 

Where my possessions lie." 



312 SE R:\roN xxii. 

Here is a mingling of the ideal and the real which is very 
strange ; but the ideal is caught by every man that sings 
it, round the whole earth. The rude negro who sings it, 
and the cultivated poet who sings it, all ahke, rich and 
poor, high and low, catch the one grand association of 
thought that it contains. Every man imagines himself 
standing on the literal Jordan, and at the same time he 
instinctively feels himself standing on the brink of that 
dark river separating us from the heavenly land. Every 
man, when he hears that song, looks over to the hills of 
the earthly Canaan, and at the same time is gazing upon 
the blooming fields of the everlasting paradise of God. 
And why this association ? Because, when Israel had wan- 
dered and wandered, until now they were within full riew 
of the land of promise, they must yet cross that dark and 
swollen river, before they can enter into it. And if they 
had gone into that river just as they were, with none 
but their own strength, they would have been washed 
away, every one of them, down into the E^d Sea, and the 
nation would have perished. Just so, when you and I shall 
have wandered, no matter how long, we finally come to 
that which is properly called a deep, dark river, a tur- 
bid stream that we must cross. If we plunge into it in 
our own unaided power, we sink to rise no more. The 
bottomless pit receives us. The Israelites were able to 
cross that river because God himself was in their midst, 
and standing by Joshua theii* leader ; and you and I will 
be able to cross this one, and stand on the eternal shores, 
if only God and Chi'ist are with us when we make the 
plunge. We often have a false conception about death, 
to our own injury, and to the disturbance of our thoughts ; 
we think of it, perhaps, as a plunge into some dark, 
cold, chilly stream, as it is represented in John Bun- 
yan's Pilgrim's Progress — we sink down and touch bot- 



THE RIVEH JORDON. 3 IB 

torn, and spring up, and in tlie darkness we struggle 
and pant until, after a long and fearful effort, our 
feet begin to touch bottom toward the other shore. I 
do not believe that. I believe that all the pain you 
and I will suffer will be on this side of death, this side 
of the river. I believe it will be with you and me (if 
God be with us there) as it was with the Israelites — that 
the very moment our feet begin to dip in the brim of death, 
death will vanish, and we are over there at once — you will 
cross it as soon as you touch it. There is no long, dark, 
terrible struggle. When you touch death it is gone for- 
ever, the light of the glorious land shines that moment 
upon your soul, and the glories of the eternal world are in 
your eye. I believe that. And what a blessed thing it is. 
But let me repeat, in conclusion, that if you would have 
death thus to vanish when you touch it, you must have 
your Joshua leading you ; you must have God in your 
midst of a truth, and there with you. He alone can make 
death vanish, and if you will have Him there then, you 
must follow Him through the wilderness. You must follow 
that cloudy pillar by day, that pillar of fire by night ; and 
that pillar is the word of God. Or, to drop the figure, if 
you would have Jesus your Eedeemer by your side when 
you come to the last hour, you must have him by your 
side on the journey. How did he go? He first went 
down to that literal Jordan, and there, as we have seen, 
he was baptized by John, though he had no sins to wash 
away. Follow Him there. When He arose from that 
watery burial, He went about doing good, and healing all 
who were oppressed of the devil, because God was with 
Him. When He died, God was with Him, although for a 
time He thought He was not, and said, '* My God, my 
God, why hast Thou forsaken me ? " But that was only 
for a moment, for the next breath He breathed was in the 



314 sEr.Mox XXII. 

utteriince of the words, "Father, receive my spirit." The 
awful agony of a moment was over; He knew that his 
Father was with Him. Let us, then, follow Him down to 
the literal Jordan, obeying His holy command in that 
ordinance — arise, and go about as He did doing good, 
healing all that are oppressed of the de^il, so far as it is 
in our power, and then when our feet just dip into the 
brim of the river, He will be with us ; the cold river will be 
out of sight, and we shall find our way over to the saints 
on the farther shore. 

Is that the desire of any penitent soul here to-night ? 
Of any one who has never yet begun to follow Jesus ? 0, 
my dear friend, what an end of life that will be ! What a 
glorious life to lead that ends in that I Will you not come 
to-night and start on the way ? We will sing the song, 
now, to which I have alluded, and if your heart is won to 
the love of Christ, and you desire to serve Him, come right 
now without any further delay, and make known your 
heavenly purposes. 



SEEMON XXIII. 



PEAYEE: ITS EFFICACY. 



"The sui)plicatioB of a righteous man availeth much 
in its working." — James, v. 16. 

I think there is no subject of revelation on which 
there is more skepticism than on that of prayer. This 
skepticism is not due to little being said on the subject 
in the Bible ; neither does it arise from any ambiguity in 
the Scripture statements. You will all bear witness, if 
you have read the Bible much, that there is no duty or 
privilege more frequently emphasized in the Bible than 
this ; and that no assurance is more solemnly given than 
that God is a prayer-hearing God, answering the prayers 
of His people. This skepticism grows out of our own 
short-sightedness. We look around and think of the 
laws of nature, and remember that God does not work 
miracles in this day, and we don't see how He can alter 
things to suit our wishes and petitions. We are told He 
is an unchanging God ; how can He then answer prayer ? 
Thus we set limits to God's ability to act without doing 
miracles. God can bring about certain things by mir- 
acles, and it seems but reasonable to suppose that He 
can do some things without a miracle. Prof. Tyndall, 
who is one of the most scientific men of our day,* made 
himself famous a few years ago by proposing a practical 
test, as he said, of the efficacy of prayer. He proposed 
to select two wards of a certain large hospital, with pa- 
tients afflicted alike in each, and that for the patients in 

* He died at an advanced asre about six months after the delivery of this 
sermon. 

815 



316 SER:\roN xxiii. 

one ward a large number of devout and earnest Christians 
should be asked to pray, wliile for those in the other no 
prayers should be made. In the course of a few months 
they would see which side had the larger number of con- 
valescent patients. I suppose he thought this a very 
profound and satisfactory proposal; but when I saw it 
published in the papers, it struck me this way : Here he 
wants the people to pray for a certain portion of the sick, 
those on one side of the hospital, and to wickedly neglect 
to pray for the others. Of course such prayers would not 
be answered. A man prays for one and deliberately 
neglects to pray for others — that is a wicked prayer. 
Who could expect an answer? 

Now if James tells the truth, "the supplication of a 
righteous man avails much." What he says is, that it 
"avails much." He does not say that it avails to the full 
extent that the petitioner wishes it to avail ; he does not 
affirm that it will always accomplish precisely what is 
asked for by the petitioner ; but he afHrms that " it avails 
much." It may be in this way, it may be in that way^ 
but, in some way, it avails much. 

A man fires a rifle, taking aim, very careful, deliberate 
aim, and misses the mark ; does that bullet accomplish 
nothing? Is there no force in it? In a great battle, the 
immense cannonading which begins the fight does little 
execution; most of it is vain so far as striking the mark 
is concerned ; most of it is vain so far as killing the en- 
emy is concerned ; would you say, then, that there is no 
power in it ? Would you say it avails nothing ? Every 
one of those cannon balls does something. If it does 
nothing but spUt open the air, and plough up the earth, 
it does something. It is a tremendous force. So, if the 
Bible teaches the truth, every prayer that goes out of a 
good man's heart, goes somewhere and hits something. 



pkayer: its efficacy. 317 

It is a power in this world. It has force and power, even 
if it misses the mark at which it is aimed ; and no man 
is wise enough to track it and see what it does. The 
bullet goes* out of sight through the woods. Sometimes 
it strikes an animal out of sight and kills it, sometimes, 
a man. A prayer goes out of the heart of a good man 
into the world; you don't know what it accomplishes; 
you can not follow its flight and see what is its eifect ; 
but you can believe that it avails much. When He to 
whom prayer is offered tells you that it is heard and that 
it avails much, can't you believe that? His eye can trace 
it when ours can not. So this matter of the force of 
prayer is, in the main, like everything else ; sometimes, 
like the artillery fired in a great battle, or like a rifle shot, 
it strikes the mark and there is visible proof of its effi- 
cacy ; and at other times it misses the mark, but strikes 
something else. 

When the Apostle had laid down this great rule, had 
stated that the prayer of a good man avails much, he 
brought up as proof an instance in which it struck the 
mark in the very center. When we think of prayer 
answered in ancient times, we are apt to think that it 
was answered by miracles. This was often the case, 
but not always. If James had cited in proof a prayer 
answered by a miracle, we could say, That will not 
answer for our day. If that were his only proof, we 
would have to depend on his word without the example. 
He therefore goes back to past times, and selects a 
prayer the answer to which was no miracle at all. He 
says, "Elijah was a man of like passions with us" (being 
a prophet did not lift him above being a man, a man of 
passions just like ours, though, of course, his passions 
were held in restraint), "and he prayed fervently that it 
might not rain " (there are a great many prayers of that 



318 SERMON XXIII. 

kind among the farmers in our own day), *'and it rained 
not on the earth for three years and six months." Did 
you ever inquire why Elijah offered the prayer that it 
might not rain ? Not because it was raining too much; 
not because the liveL* was overflowing; or the farmers 
wanted time to work — there was no such occasion for it. 
Why did he pray that it might not rain ? It was a grand 
conception of his. The whole nation, under Ahab as 
king, and under the leadership of Jezebel, had deserted 
the living God, and so far as Elijah knew or beheved, 
there was no man in all Israel but himself who worshiped 
the true God, The whole nation had drifted into idol- 
atry. 

The nation had not fallen into this base and false 
heathenism without the prayers and entreaties of many 
good men against it ; but one l3y one the good men had 
been driven away, or died, so that he stood alone with 
all around him full of iniquity. Did he give up ? Breth- 
ren, when a man has the right faith in God ; when he 
Imows he has God's truth; and when he is not a coward, 
that man is not going to give up ; but he wiU have the 
spirit of Paul, who said, " Let God be true and every 
man a liar." That was the way with Elijah. What could 
be done? It entered the mind of Elijah, that if he could 
only have the power granted from God to hold back the 
rain for a year ; and if necessary, another year ; and if 
necessary, another year ; and if necessary, another year ; 
he would compel the people to see that Baal was no God ; 
for all their prayers to Baal would not bring rain. He 
would compel them to see that Jehovah was the only God, 
So he prayed God for that power. That was an original 
conception; it was a grand conception, to ask God for 
such power, and for such a purpose. 

When Elijah found (liy some token, we don't know 



prayer: its efficacy. 319 

what), that God had answered his prayer, he went holdly 
into the presence of Ahab, and cried out, "As the Lord 
God Hveth, before whom I stand, there shall be neither 
dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." 
Then he went away and hid himself. He knew that 
when the king and his people began to be pinched with 
hunger, if they could find him, they would catch him and 
try to choke out of him the word which w^ould bring the 
rain. He went, as God told him, and hid himself by the 
brook Cherith, where ravens brought him food to eat. 
He stayed there until the brook ran dry, and then, seeing 
he could no longer get water there, for the ravens could 
not bring that in their claws, God told him to leave that 
place and go to a city called Zarephath. When he drew 
near to that place, he saw a woman come out of the 
gate and begin picking up sticks ; and he said to her, 
"Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water, that I may drink." 
When she started to get it, he called again and said, 
"Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread." At this the 
woman turned back and said, "As the Lord thy God 
hveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in the 
barrel and a little oil in the cruse ; and I am gathering 
sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my eon, 
that we may eat it and die." "Fear not," Elijah said, 
"Go and do what thou hast said; but make me a little 
cake first, and bring it to me, and afterward make for 
thee and thy son. For thus saith Jehovah, the God of 
Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall 
the cruse of oil fail till the day that God sendeth rain 
on the earth." She went and did as he told her. I won- 
der how many women in Louisville would do this — go and 
get the last morsel of meal and oil, and give it to the 
prophet, when she and her little boy were at the point of 
starvation. That woman did it, and it was because God 



320 SERMON XXllI. 

knew that she had it m her heart to do so, that He 
sent Ehjah to her rather than to any one else. I presume 
He looked down from heaven and saw only that one 
woman who had such faith in Him. 

How wonderful it was that she could keep the prophet 
hid. When the starving people found that she always 
had something to eat, they doubtless came to rob her; 
but she could say, See, here is my barrd, I emptied it 
this mornpig. Here is my cruse with no oil in it; turn 
it up and see. Thus she kept her secret, yet when the 
time came for the evening meal, there was a fresh supply. 
The prophet, in the meantime, was safely hid in the loft, 
and he stayed there till the three years and a half of 
famine had passed away. 

Now brethren, what made that long drought? You 
are ready, perhaps, to say that it was a miracle. If it 
should stay dry three months in Kentucky, would that 
be a miracle ? No. A whole year ; is that a miracle ? No. 
Another year? No. How long would it have to remain 
di7 to turn a natural drought into a miracle? It was not 
a miracle, it was from natural causes. The rain cloud 
did not come up from the sea in the right direction for 
the wind to carry it over Palestine. The long continu- 
ance did not make it a miracle. Elijah prayed that it 
might not rain, and it did not rain on the earth until the 
prayer was changed. 

At the end of three years and a half, God commanded 
the prophet to go and show himself to the king. I don't 
know whether Elijah had yet reached the conclusion that 
the prayer had answered its purpose, but he went and 
met the king, and said to him, "Gather together all the 
people on the top of Mt. Carmel." The king now obeys 
the prophet, and the people come together, and the four 
hundred prophets of Baal come with them. When they 



prayer: its efficacy. 321 

had all assembled, Elijah appeared in their midst and 
cried with a loud voice, so he could be heard by all the 
assembly, "How long halt ye between two opinions? if 
Jehovah is God, follow him ; if Baal is God, follow him." 
Not a man said a word. Why was this ? Were they not 
convinced which was the true God ? Had they not prayed 
to their God for three years for rain, and did they not 
know it was Elijah's God who held it back? It was be- 
cause they were cowards. They were afraid. If they said, 
'* Jehovah is God," there stood Ahab, and there was Jez- 
ebel, and there were the four hundred prophets of Baal ; 
and if they said, "Baal is God," there was that old 
prophet, and he would not let it rain. So through cow- 
ardice they held their peace on both sides. 

But Elijah would not be outdone ; if the control of the 
rain had not satisfied them, he would try them with fire. 
''Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, am 
left a prophet of Jehovah ; but Baal's prophets are four 
hundred and fifty men. Let them therefore give us two 
bullocks ; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, 
and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no 
fire under : and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it 
on the wood, and put no fire under. And call ye on the 
name of your god, and I will call on the name of Jeho- 
vah: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be 
God. And all the people answered and said, It is well 
spoken. They could say amen to that in advance with- 
out being afraid. 

The trial was made. After the prophets of Baal had 
yelled and screamed for half a day, and cut themselves 
with knives, that the flowing blood might swell their 
excitement, it was clear that Baal could send no fire. 
Then Elijah prayed. His prayer was brief and simple, 
but fervent and pointed. He said : " Jehovah, the God of 



322 



SERMON XXIIT. 



Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this 
day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy ser- 
vant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. 
Hear me, Jehovah, hear me, that this people may know 
that thou, Jehovah, art God, and that thou hast turned 
their heart back again." The fire came down from 
heaven. It consumed the offering, the wood, the very 
stones of the altar. The people fell on their faces and 
cried out, "Jehovah is God." Then the prophets of Baal 
were killed, in compliance with the law of Moses, and in 
punishment of their hellish hypocrisy. 

Elijah had now accomplished the purpose of his first 
prayer ; that is, he had brought the people back to the 
•God whom they had deserted. What a grand conception 
that was, and how great the good resulting from that 
prayer ! Having brought the people back to God, he 
did not wish the drought to continue, so he went up to 
the top of Mt. Carmel and prayed again. He sat upon 
the ground, drew up his knees, clasped his hands around 
them, bowed his head between them, and prayed. He 
said to his servant, "Go up now; look toward the sea." 
When you climb to the highest point of that part of the 
mountain, you can look down upon a long line of the 
coast reaching southward toward Caesarea, with the wide 
expanse of water stretching away till it meets the sky in 
the dim distance. The servant came back and said he 
saw nothing. "Go again seven times." He went: and 
when he returned the seventh time, he said, ''Behold, 
there ariseth a cloud out of the sea, as small as a man's 
hand." Then Elijah sent word to the king to hasten 
away lest the rain should detain him. In a little while 
the heavens grew black with clouds, there was a great 
rain, and the earth yielded her fruits once more. 

How did the rain come ? If it had come without the 



prayer: its efficacy. 323 

cloud, that would have been a miracle. If it had come 
from over the desert, that would have been a miracle. 
How did it come ? The clouds came up from the sea, as 
every rain cloud does. The wind blew it eastward, and 
when it came in contact with cooler volumes of air, its 
vapor was condensed, and the rain fell. It came just as 
any other rain comes. It came in answer to prayer. It 
is not only true, then, that in a general way the fervent 
prayer of a good man avails much, but that sometimes 
it accomplishes the very thing for which it went forth out 
of the mind and heart. There are many thoughtful, 
observant Christians, prayerful men, who have seen 
things transpire so precisely in accordance with their 
prayers, that you can not convince them that their 
prayers are not answered. This ought to make us be- 
lieve that every prayer rightly offered has been answered 
in some way, though in what way we may not be able 
to teU. 

I want you now to notice a little more particularly 
some other matters in this text. James does not say that 
every prayer is answered. It is unfortunately true that 
many foolish prayers are offered up to God, many formal 
prayers are offered; many, because they do not start 
from the heart, never rise higher than the ceiling. Notice 
that Elijah prayed "fervently," and that it is the fervent 
prayer which availeth much — one that is warm, that is 
earnest, that comes out of the center of the heart. No 
other kind of prayer has the promise. Again, it is not 
the prayer of every 7nan that avails much. " The suppli- 
cation of a righteous man." You all realize that this is 
just as it should be. If you were sick, and thought you 
were going to die, and wanted the comfort of prayer at 
your bedside, would you send for some wicked neighbor, 
who sometimes prays when scared ? Would you send for 



324 .sER:\roN xxiii. 

some member of the church who barely keeps his place 
in it ? You would not think of any such person. If you 
wanted some one to pray by your bedside, you would 
send for the very best man or woman you could reach, 
and you would not have any other, for you could have no 
confidence in the prayers of any but the righteous. That 
is the kind James speaks of. "The supplication of a 
righteous man avails much." That kind of a man is 
God's friend. That is the kind of a man God loves. 

If God was a God who did not hear our prayers, or 
care anything about our prayers, He might as well be 
made of ice. He is a living God; a God who has friends, 
and loves His friends ; and this is the reason that He will 
do something for them when they cry to Him. Don't 
think of God as mere abstraction, or as a being who 
keeps Himself beyond the sky; but think of Him as one 
who lives with you, who is round about you, who lays His 
hand under your head when you lie down to rest. So in 
praying, pray with the confidence of little children. One 
of the bitterest cries I ever heard of, came from one of 
the great historians of England, when he said, " I would 
give all I am and all I ever hope to be, for one hour of 
my childhood's faith, when I looked up at the sky and 
called it heaven." He had lost the simple faith of his 
early days, and could not get it back again. We are to 
believe that God is with us, that His eyes are upon 
us, and that He hears the prayers of His saints. Pray in 
the morning; pray at the noontide; pray when you lie 
down to sleep. There are some beautiful things even in 
false religions. In Mohammedan countries, when the 
morning begins to dawn there comes a scream from the 
minarets calling the people to prayer. When this cry is 
heard, aU are expected to arise from sleep and pray. 
Then, when the sun begins to peep over the horizon, there 



prayer: its efficacy, 325 

is heard again the call from the minaret, and every one 
is expected to pray again. Again at noon, again as the 
sun begins to dip behind the horizon, and again at dark. 
In old times these prayers were kept up; but unfor- 
tunately, while the cry is still heard, there is little atten- 
tion paid to it, just as, in our country, the bells ring on 
Sunday morning calling people to prayer, and ring un- 
heeded. Pray often ; pray earnestly ; and in order that 
your prayer may amount to anything, be righteous men 
and women. Walk humbly before God, and truly with 
the people, and your prayers will be heard. 



SERMON XXIV. 



BELIEVING A LIE. 
Morning September 3, 1893. 



In 2 Thessalonians, second chapter, tenth to twelfth 
verses, the apostle speaks of *' Them that are perishing, 
because they receive not the love of the truth, that they 
might be saved. And for this cause God sendeth them a 
working of error, that they should believe a he : that they 
all might be judged who believe not the truth, but had 
pleasure in unrighteousness." 

It is quite a popular idea that it makes very little if 
any difference in religious matters, what a man believes, 
so he is sincere in regard to it, and faithfully lives accord- 
ing to liis belief ; but while men thus think in regard to 
religion, no man has the same thought in regard to any 
other human interest. For instance, a man believes in 
the soundness and good management of a bank, when it 
is about to break : does any one think that the sincerity 
of his belief, backed up by large deposits and the pur- 
chase of large blocks of the stock, will make safe his in- 
vestment ? Does not everybody know that the more sin- 
cerely a man believes in such a bank, the worse it is 
for liim? The hand of a young lady is sought by a 
designing man in whom she has the most unlimited con- 
fidence : will the sincerity of her faith in him prevent the 
life-long misery which he is sure to inflict if she marries 
him ? The more sincerely she believes in him, the worse 
it is for her. The same is true of false beliefs in every 

326 



BELIEVING A LIE. 327 

department of human life and interest. The same is true 
in matters of State, of science, and of war. False theo- 
ries of government work evil continually ; false theories in 
science are clogs in the way of knowledge ; and the behef 
of a lie has caused the defeat of many a brave army and 
the sinking of many a gallant ship. Strange, then, if it 
is not so in matters pertaining to the soul. Strange if 
the belief of an error in religion is just as well as belief of 
the truth. 

Paul was very far from entertaining this opinion. In 
the passage before us, he represents certain persons as 
perishing because they received not the love of the truth, 
that they might be saved. He says, that " for his cause," 
that is, because they receive not the love of the truth, 
" God sendeth them a working of error, that they should 
believe a lie." He can not mean that God causes them to 
believe a lie by any direct exertion of His power ; for He 
never interferes in that way for the injury of any human 
being; but that in the workings of His providence He 
allows those who do not love the truth to be worked upon 
by error, so that they shall believe a lie. And the result of 
this he declares to be, "that they all might be judged 
who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unright- 
eousness." He uses the word judged here, as in many 
other places, in the sense of being judged adversely, or 
being condemned. The result, then, of believing a lie, in 
the case under consideration, is not salvation, but condem- 
nation ; and that condemnation will be eternal, unless in the 
tender mercy of God it be forgiven before death intervenes. 
Notice, too, that he connects this behef of a lie with a fail- 
ure to love the truth, and with taking pleasure in unright- 
eousness. It is but a natural consequence that the belief 
of a lie is injurious in some way; and especially that it 
leads away from the love of the truth, and from the paths 



328 SERMON XXIV. 

of right doing. Belief of the truth alone leads to love of 
the truth, and to the practice of righteousness which truth 
always demands. 

Our Lord taught in person the same doctrine on this 
subject that is here taught by Paul. He said of the Phar- 
isees, " They are blind guides. And if the bhnd guide the 
blind, they shall both fall into the ditch." According to 
this, the blind guide will not escape falling into the ditch 
because he is blind ; on the contrary, his blindness is the 
very cause of his falling in. So with the blind man who 
is guided by him. We know that this is literally true of 
the physically blind, and the Lord's purpose here is to 
teach that as it is with the physically blind, so it is with 
the mentally and spiritually blind. By the ditch into 
which they fall is meant the evil consequences into which 
misguidance naturally leads men in spiritual matters. 

There is an incident in Old Testament history which 
I think must have been brought about, so far as God di- 
rected it, for the very purpose of illustrating this great 
lesson to us, as well as for teaching it to the generation 
in which it occurred. It is the incident of the young prophet 
from Judah, who was sent to rebuke the image- worship 
set up at Bethel by Jeroboam. Having established him- 
self as king of the ten tribes after their revolt against 
Kehoboam, son of Solomon, he soon concluded that if his 
subjects should continue going to Jerusalem to worship, as 
the law required, and especially if they continued to at- 
tend the annual festivals, where all the twelve tribes were 
accustomed to meet in religious fellowship, they would 
eventually grow discontented with their divided state, and 
would kill him and return to their old allegiance under 
the house of David. To avoid this disaster, he made 
two calves of gold, set one up at Bethel, and the other at 
Dan, and said to the people, "It is too much for you to 



BELIEVING A LIE. 329 

go up to Jerusalem; behold thy gods, Israel, which 
brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." He was the 
first king of whom we read who set up a religion of his 
own to support the throne ; bat he has had a multitude of 
followers ; for this is the real purpose of every State relig- 
ion down to the present day. He also appointed a feast 
on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in imitation of 
the Feast of Tabernacles, which was held in Jerusalem 
on ihe same day of the seventh month ; and on the first 
day of that feast he went up to his new altar to burn in- 
cense for the first time. 

God was of course beholding these proceedings, and 
He sent a prophet out of Judah, who arrived in Bethel 
just in time to witness this first burning of incense. He 
made his way through the great crowd, close up to the 
king, who stood before the altar, and cried out, "0 
altar, altar, thus saith Jehovah : Behold, a child 'shall 
be bom in Judah, Josiah by name ; and upon thee shall 
he sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense 
upon thee, and men's bones shall they burn upon thee." 
And he gave a sign that these words should be fulfilled, 
saying, "Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes 
that are upon it shall be poured out." The altar was 
immediately rent asunder, and the ashes, including the 
incense, I suppose, was spilt upon the ground. The king 
in great wrath put forth his hand, and exclaimed to those 
about him, *' Lay hold on him." But the moment he ut- 
tered the words he felt a stiffening of his arm, and realized 
that he could not draw it back to his body. The bystan- 
ders saw this, and not one of them dared to lay hands 
on the prophet. The king's tune changes. He says to the 
man of God, " Intreat now the favor of the Lord thy God, 
and pray for me, that my hand may be restored". The 
prophet did so, and the hand was restored as suddenly 



380 SERMON XXIV. 

as it had been stiffened. The prophet is now a wonderful 
man in the eyes of the king. Wrath is turned into admira- 
tion, and he says, " Come home with me, and refresh thy- 
self, and I will give thee a reward." What a surprise to 
the poor prophet ! Invited to dine, and to receive a re- 
ward, yes, a royal dinner and a royal reward, where he 
had reason to expect only hatred and threats ! How glad 
he would have been to go ! What a feast he would have 
enjoyed, what a reward he would have received, and 
what honor he would have had in the eyes of the people 1 
But he answered, " If thou wilt give me half thy house, I 
will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread or drink 
water in this place: for so was it charged me by the 
word of God." He turned on his heel, and started home 
by a different road. 

Now here is a man to be admu-ed. He was so coura- 
geous that in obedience to the command of God he defied 
the power of the king ; he was so free from ambition as to 
resist the flattering invitation of the king ; and he was so 
unselfish as not to be influenced by the king's money. He 
was proof against fear of danger, against flattery, against 
avarice . And the way in which he resisted the tempta- 
tions of flattery and avarice, is the more remarkable from 
the consideration that he certainly could not have seen a 
reason why he should not eat and drink there if he was 
hungry. Moreover, if he had been disposed to resort to 
pleas of expediency, he might have thought that the un- 
expected invitation of the king should be accepted as a 
step in the direction of gainmg his good will and thereby 
winning him back to God. But with the plain command 
of God before him, he made no parly with expediency. Im- 
plicit and unquestioning obedience was evidently his rule 
of life. A man with such a rule may be a hero. A man 
without it never leaves the world better than he finds it. 



BELIEVING A LIE. 331 

In this same city of Bethel, almost mider the shadow 
of Jeroboam's golden calf, we are told that there dwelt 
another prophet, an eld one. He, of course, was opposed 
to this false worship ; but he had consulted expediency, 
and had kept his mouth shut. One of his own sons had 
been in the crowd which assembled to witness the inau- 
guration of the new altar ; for the children will go to see 
the sights, especially if their fathers do not sternly restrain 
them. The son ran home when the young prophet had 
disappeared, and told his father all that had been said and 
done. Though too cowardly to act such a part himself, 
the old man was instantly fired with admiration for his 
daring fellow-prophet, and he felt that he must have him 
in his house to break bread with him : so he ordered his 
son to saddle the ass, and he hurried off to bring the 
prophet back. He found him dismounted, and sitting 
under the shade of an oak. Hurrying up to him, he said, 
** Come home with me and eat bread." The young man 
answered him as he had answered the king about eating 
and drinking in the place. But the old man was so 
eager to have him come that he made up a lie, and said 
to him, " I also am a prophet as thou art ; and an angel 
spake to me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him 
back with thee into thy house, that he may eat bread 
and drink water." This lie prevailed. The man who 
was proof against danger, against flattery, against avarice, 
was overcome by the plausibility of a lie. Notice, now, 
that it is not a bad man, but a brave and good man, who 
is thus overcome. Even such a man is not free from dan- 
ger at this point. Many a man just as brave and true in 
many particulars, has been led to his own undoing by the 
belief of a lie. 

No doubt the old man's table was spread with the best 
the house afforded, and the two were enjoying themselves 



382 ser:\io\ xxiv. 

to the utmost when the Spirit of God came upon the old 
prophet and forced from his Hps this solemn sentence : 
" Thus saith Jehovah : Forasmuch as thou hast been dis- 
obedient to the mouth of Jehovah, and hast not kept the 
command which Jehovah thy God commanded thee, but 
hast come back, and eaten and drunk in this place, thy 
carcass shall not come to the sepulchre of thy fathers." 
The joyful feast ended in gloom. The yomig man departed 
with a sense of guilt weighing him do^Ti; and he won- 
dered, no doubt, what mysterious fate was involved in the 
words which had come from the Lord. He was not long 
in finding out ; for he had gone but a short distance to- 
ward home when he saw a lion rushing upon him. He 
sees the glare of the lion's eyes, he feels the powerful 
claws as they drag him to the ground ; the horrid mouth 
of the beast is opened upon him, he feels the crushing in 
of his ribs, and then he feels and sees no more. What 
do you suppose was uppermost in his mind as his life was 
being crushed out of him ? Was it the thought of the 
lion, or was it the thought of his sin ? brethren, what 
can be the thought of danger or pain when we are dying, 
compared with the thought that we are dying in sin? 
God grant that no one of us shall have such an expori- 
ence. 

The same day there came into the city from that road 
some men who said that they saw the strange sight of a 
lion standing by the side of a dead man, whom he had 
slain but had not eaten, and the man's ass standing by 
unharmed. The old prophet knew what it meant. He 
ordered out his ass once more, hastened down the road, 
found it as the men had said, brought the carcass home 
Avith him, and buried it in his owa. sepulchre. When the 
sad work was done, he said to his sons, "When I am 
dead, bury me in the sepulchre where the man of God is 



J]ELIEVINi> A LIE. 333 

buried ; lay my bones by the side of his bones." This was 
a poor atonement for the ruin which his He had wrought, 
but it was the best that he could do. 

You can now see very plainly that this incident hap- 
pened for a type, as Paul said of many other Old Testa- 
ment incidents, and that it was written for our admoni- 
tion. It was written to warn us against the belief of a 
lie. The fate of the young prophet cries out like the blast 
of a trumpet to startle us from our fancied security, and 
makes us look around to see if we, too, are in any such 
peril. Perhaps you are ready to say that the sin of the 
old prophet in this case was greater than that of the 
young one; and you think it strange that the less 
guilty was the one who perished. Well, there was 
an abundance of texts and incidents to show the sin of 
lying, and the evil consequences which must follow it; 
and nobody, either then or now, needed any particular 
instruction about the sin of the old prophet; but the 
world needed a lesson on the subject of beheving a lie ; 
60 the young prophet was slain to teach this lesson, 
while the old man was left to God's ordinary method of 
dealing with liars. No doubt he got his deserts sooner or 
later. I think you will all agree with me that this very 
singular piece of inspired history confirms most strikingly, 
and illustrates most aptly the teaching of Paul and of 
Jesus on the subject of believing a lie — of being guided by 
blind guides. 

Shall we think, then, that every maji who believes a 
lie in regard to God's will shall perish ? I think not. If 
a blind man is guided by another blind man along a 
smooth road, where there is no ditch, I don't think either 
of them will fall into a ditch. It is only when there is a 
ditch in the way that they will fall into it. So, if this 
young prophet had been told to do almost any thing else 



334 SERMON XXIV. 

than what he was told to do, we have no reason to think 
it would have been fatal. If, for example, the old proph- 
et had said, An angel sent me to tell you to get from 
under this tree and run for your life, and not to stop until 
you get home, the young man would have been scared, 
and would have run himself out of breath ; but the lion 
would not have killed him. In like manner, I can imag- 
ine a man believing some lies in religion, which, though 
they may injure him some, and I suppose there are very 
few that would not, might yet fall far short of proving 
fatal to him. I think that the doctrine of election as 
taught in the old creeds is false in the extreme ; but I 
think that many a man has believed it all his life, and 
then gone to heaven when he died. What, then, is the 
distinction ? It is to be traced out by remembering that 
there is only one thing that can keep men out of heaven, 
or keep them estranged from God in this life. That one 
thing is sin. Nothing else does or can stand between 
God and any man. If the belief of a lie, then, leads a 
man to commit sin, it will prove fatal unless that sin shall 
be forgiven. It was thus with the young prophet. The 
lie which he believed led him to disobey God. His diso- 
bedience was the immediate cause, while the belief of a 
lie was only the remote cause of his death. 

In view of the solemn lesson now before us, taught both 
in the Old Testament and in the New, it becomes a question 
of transcendent importance, How shall we be sure that we 
are not believing lies ; that we are not being led by blind 
guides ? This last-named figure of speech may help us to 
an answer. If I am a blind man myself, I should have 
more sense than to let another bUnd man guide me. He 
may guide me a little way and not lead me into a ditch ; 
but when I start to follow his guidance, I can not know 
but that the second step I take will be a sudden plunge 



BELIEVING A LIE. 335 

into a ditch from which I can not get out. I must, then, 
take pains to let no one guide me but those who can see. 
But how can I determine who among all those proposing 
to guide me in religious matters are the men who can see 
— who are not blind men ? I answer, there is one set 
of men, and only one, whom we can trust implicitly. We 
know that they are not blind : I mean the Lord Jesus and 
his apostles. We have their written instructions on the 
way of life, and they are not so voluminous or bo obscure 
as to be unintelligible in regard to what is sinful. We 
may be in doubt, as we study them, over many questions 
of history and of exegesis, but rarely can we be in the 
least suspense, if we have a willing heart, as to what is 
sinful. Having found . this, we ought to be able, and we 
shall be, to prevent any man from leading us into such 
error as shall cause us to commit sin — sin of omission or 
sin of commission. 

I suppose, that in the actual experiences of life, we 
seldom encounter a severer trial than did the young 
prophet of whom we have said so much. The lie which 
deceived him was told by a prophet, and told as coming 
from God through an angel. It would seem at first 
glance, that he could scarcely have failed to believe it ; 
that he could scarcely be blamed for believing it. His 
respect for the prophetic order to which he himself be 
longed, and his confidence in the veracity of the holy 
angels, seemed to require him to believe the story. Why, 
then, was he censured for believing it ? The answer is at 
hand. He knew that a prophet told him to eat and 
drink in Bethel; he knew that if the prophet told the 
truth, an angel had commanded him to do so ; but he 
also knew, beyond a doubt, that God Himself had told 
him not to eat and drink in that place. His obvious 
•duty, then, was to answer the old prophet according to 



336 sEmioN XXIV. 

this knowledge. He should have said to him, I suppose 
that you are a prophet, as you claim to be ; it is possible, 
as you say, that an angel has sent you with this message ; 
all this may be, or it may not be ; but one thing is abso- 
lutely certain, and that is, that God has commanded me 
not to eat or drink in your city, and I will obey Him, even 
if all the prophets on earth and all the angels in heaven, 
were to countermand His order. Such a determination to 
obey God at all hazards, would have saved him from sin, 
and from an untimely death. It is just such faith as this 
that is enjoined in the New Testament. Paul says, in one 
of his outbursts of eloquence, ''Let God be true, and 
every man a liar." And again he says, to some to whom 
he had preached the gospel: "Though we, or an angel 
from heaven should preach unto you any gospel other 
than that which we preached unto you, let him be anath- 
ema." He says this, and lest any man might think he 
had gone too far, or was speaking at random, he immedi- 
ately repeats it. He was speaking of men who were per- 
verting the gospel, and were thus making it a different 
gospel. They of course claimed to be preaching the true 
gospel, and this was the he that they were propagating. 
This w^arning is found in the fii'st chapter of the epistle to 
the Galatians, and farther on in the same epistle we find 
that some of the Galatians had believed the lie, and that 
in consequence, they had become alienated from Paul; 
they had come to regard him as an enemy; and they were 
desiring to go back under the law, where Christ would 
profit them nothing. They knew very well what Paul 
had taught on the subject, but, deceived by blind guides 
who had come among them, they were knowingly depart- 
ing from Paul's teaching. These blind guides did not die 
without leaving a progeny behind them. Ever since their 
day, and even in ours, there have been teachers who 



BELIEVING A LIE. 337 

knew more than Paul did, who could criticise Paul and 
tell wherein he made mistakes in his teaching, or taught 
things not adapted to a more enlightened age. Some of 
the breed, both male and female, are still alive, and you 
will do well to steer clear of them if you Avould guide your 
own barque in safety. All sorts of doctrines are being 
taught by all sorts of men and women ; and it becomes a 
man who wishes ever to please God, to keep his head 
level, and his eye fixed on the plain teachings of the Lord 
and the apostles, if he would not believe a lie and be 
condemned. 

In the next place, let me say that there is one lie 
which has been propagated wherever the gospel has been 
preached, and more industriously, perhaps, than any 
other. It has also proved more fatal, at least in Chris- 
tian lands, than any other lie that I can think of. It is 
the lie constantly palmed off on sinners, "There is time 
enough yet\" It comes from the father of lies ; it bids a 
man to neglect his surrender to Christ, to continue in sin, 
and to flatter himself that in so doing he is neither doing 
himself injury at present, nor endangering his eternal 
welfare. Under this fatal delusion, men and women are 
dying by the thousands without God and without hope. 
Have any of you been victims of it ? I doubt not that 
you have. I beg you now to cast aside this fateful false- 
hood, and take into your mind the unquestionable fact, 
that if you are to prepare your sinful soul for dwelling 
with God and angels, you have not a moment to lose. 
You know this very well, when you stop to think. It is 
only in your unthoughtful moments that you believe, or 
try to believe, the lie. 

It is in the neglect of duty, rather than in overt acts 
of sin, that the belief of this lie, and of some others, 
shows its most baneful effects. How many there are, 

22 



338 SERMON XXIV. 

among even those who have made a surrender to the 
Lord, who still neglect important duties from day to day, 
under the delusion that it is a small matter to do this for 
a while, and that there is time enough yet in which to 
become punctilious servants of the Lord ! And then, 
there are certain views entertained and propagated among 
believers themselves, the inevitable effect of which, if not 
their intended effect, is to breed a neglect of our duties. 
There are theories, for instance, in regard to the first act 
of consecration required of a penitent sinner, the ordi- 
nance of baptism, which have this effect. We are told, 
again and again, that baptism is nothing but an external 
ordinance which can not be a matter of grea,t importance 
in a spiritual religion ; and that, therefore, it may be neg- 
lected, or changed in form, without peril. If we insist 
upon its strict observance, we are called ritualists or some- 
thing else that is supposed to be a reproach to us ; and 
if we exhort men, as Peter did, to repent and be baptized 
for the remission of sins, we are charged with teaching 
salvation by water. Now the whole effect of this teaching, 
or rather this raihng, is to discourage the observance of 
that solemn ordinance of which even under John's ad- 
ministration of it, our Lord himself said : "The Phari- 
sees and the lawyers rejected for themselves the counsel 
of God, not being baptized by him." The belief of any 
lie leading men to neglect this ordinance, is the more 
likely to be fatal from this fact that the forgiveness of all 
our past sins is connected with it ; and, if, in the neglect 
of it, we are saved at all, it will be because, for reasons which 
God has not revealed to us, he shall both forgive these sins 
in the absence of one of the conditions which he has pre- 
scribed, and also forgive the neglect of that condition. 
Who is willing to risk his soul on an uncertainty like that ? 
I trust that none of vou who hear me to-day will think of 



BELIEVING A LIE. 339 

it for a moment. I beg of you to cast aside the fatal 
delusion that there is time enough for you to surrender to 
the authority of your Lord, and any delusion which may 
have been palmed off upon you in regard to the import- 
ance of prompt obedience in that ordinance which stands 
between you and the forgiveness of your many sins. Let 
not a day pass over your heads till, with a penitent soul, 
you are buried with Christ in baptism, and shall have 
risen to walk with him in a new life. 



